Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will challenge the government to ensure the UK is the first country to vaccinate its population against coronavirus.
In a TV address to be aired on Tuesday evening, Sir Keir will call for a “massive, immediate, and round the clock” effort to vaccinate the public.
Speaking on the first day of England’s third national lockdown, the Labour leader will demand a “new contract between the government and the British people”.
“The country stays at home; the government delivers the vaccine,” he will say, as he proposes the terms of a deal between politicians and UK citizens.
Sir Keir will add: “We were the first country in the world to get the vaccine. Let’s be the first in the world to get our country vaccinated.”
Sir Keir’s address, a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s own TV address to announce the latest lockdown, will come as it was revealed 1.3 million people across the UK have so far received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
At a Downing Street news conference earlier on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said this included more than 650,000 people aged over 80.
The government has committed to vaccinating 13.9 million of the most vulnerable people by the middle of next month.