IAN Blackford has said Dominic Cummings' position is "completely untenable" and has told Boris Johnson in a cross-party meeting he should sack his top aide.

The SNP Westminster leader spoke out after Durham police concluded officers would have taken action if they had known about Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle.

After investigating the adviser’s 50-mile Easter Sunday drive, the force deemed the lockdown breach to be “minor” and said it would not take retrospective action. However, officers said if he had been caught at the time it would have "warranted police intervention".

Responding, Blackford said: "I told the Prime Minister that he needs to put public health first and remove Dominic Cummings from post. There cannot be one rule for the Tory Government and another for everyone else.

"We now have confirmation from Durham Police that Mr Cummings broke the regulations – and we already know that he broke UK Government guidance. His position is completely untenable. This has become a question of Boris Johnson's judgment and integrity.

"As I said in the meeting, there is serious concern that this scandal is eroding public trust in the health guidance and distracting from efforts to tackle coronavirus - including the success of test, trace and isolate schemes, which rely on public adherence to the rules."

READ MORE: Cummings' trip to Barnard Castle would 'warrant police intervention'

Downing Street reacted to the report by saying the Prime Minister considered the matter to be “closed”, but calls for Johnson to sack his chief aide have only become louder.

Labour leader Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Johnson of being "too weak to act" and of failing to have "drawn a line under" the saga.

Starmer, who has stated he would have sacked the adviser if he was PM, said: "Boris Johnson should have drawn a line under the Dominic Cummings saga but was too weak to act.

"The public have sacrificed so much for the health of our nation – which he's now undermined.

"And sent a message that there's one rule for them and another for the British people."

Acting leader of the LibDems Sir Ed Davey added: "This behaviour over the past few days has entirely eroded the public's trust in the Government. The Prime Minister has said he wants to move on so that all efforts can be focused on the UK's response to the pandemic, but the only way to do that would be for him to ask for Dominic Cummings' resignation.

"Over the past two months the British public have made huge sacrifices – losing their freedom, their livelihoods, and in many tragic instances – someone they loved.

"The longer Dominic Cumming stays in post, the more people will feel that there is one rule for him and one for everyone else, seriously threatening public health. Unless he resigns, the sacrifices everyone has made are at risk of being entirely undermined."