CUMBRIA’s crime commissioner says he does not think police should investigate alleged parties at Downing Street which broke Covid rules.

It comes after fresh revelations that Downing Street staff held two parties on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral in April last year-when Covid restrictions banned indoor mixing.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is reported to have attended neither of the parties held on April 16, is facing mounting pressure to resign over the developing party scandal.

Civil servant Sue Gray has been tasked with investigating the alleged breach of lockdown rules within the Government and will publish a report with her findings.

Cumbria’s Police Crime Commissioner Peter McCall said the investigation should remain with Ms Gray but expressed his frustration at the position the scandal had put police in.

“I think we all need to wait for the outcome of whatever the inquiry comes up with next week,” he said.

“And then at that point it would be up to the prime minister and his Parliamentary colleagues to decide what happens next.

“They’re alleged and this inquiry is a workplace inquiry so I think it should be kept with the independent Sue Gray.

“The police approach throughout the pandemic has been not to investigate historic breaches of Covid regulations.

“And the reason for that is that the approach was always to educate, encourage and explain the rules and then to enforce them as a last resort.

“But with a historic case you can’t take those three steps and that’s why I don’t believe it’s appropriate for the police to be involved.

“But it is right that it is properly investigated by someone who is as independent as you can get.

“Enforcing the Covid rules placed policing in a very difficult position and of course everybody who had to abide by the rules.

“As the Prime Minister said himself, it shouldn’t have happened.”