Starmer said the government had"lost control of the virus"and called for a circuit-breaker lockdown,similar to the one imposed on Britons in March but this time,keeping schools open.
"The Prime Minister has not acted on this advice. There's no longer time to give this Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt,"Starmer said at a rare news conference.
"Another course is needed[...] a temporary set of clear and effective restrictions designed to get the R rate down and reverse the trend of infections and hospital admissions."
Starmer said the Prime Minister did not need to fear his own MPs as he would have Labour support for a new lockdown.
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Addressing the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs via Zoom,Johnson dismissed Starmer's call,saying the Labour leader was"playing politics".
Johnson is facing a small rebellion from MPs who want the government to loosen restrictions and allow individuals to have a greater say in their own choices.
Chris Green,a Tory MP quit his position in the outer ministry,saying the lockdown in his area of Bolton had not worked and caused more harm than the disease.
"The damage done to physical and mental health as well as to livelihoods and businesses would be justified if the threat from COVID-19 was as first suggested,"Green said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
"I know that this novel pandemic virus posed a serious but little understood threat,but we have learnt so much since it first emerged.
"I now believe that the attempted cure is worse than the disease and that this second six-month phase will not see the delivery of a solution via mass vaccination."
Europe has reported 700,000 new cases in the past week according to the WHO,up from 36 per cent from 520,000 the week before.
Britain,France,Russia and Spain accounted for more than half of the new infections.
In the Netherlands,the government has closed all hospitality venues and banned the sale of alcohol past 8pm. Italy and France are restricting parties and putting limits on restaurants and bars.