BORIS Johnson’s lack of “leadership, last-minute U-turns, mixed messaging and devastating policies” are to blame for Britain’s staggeringly high Covid death rate, the SNP’s Ian Blackford has said.

On Tuesday, the UK became the first country in Europe to pass 100,000 deaths, the fifth-highest mortality rate in the world after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.

The outlook remains bleak, with England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warning that there could be “a lot more deaths over the next few weeks”.

Professor Calum Semple, who sits on the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) even warned that there could be as many as “another 40-50,000 deaths before this burns out.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on Johnson to explain why the UK now had the highest coronavirus death rate in Europe.

He said: “Yesterday we passed the tragic milestone of 100,000 Covid deaths in the United Kingdom. That’s not just a statistic. Behind every death is a grieving family, a mum, a dad, a sister, a brother, a friend, a colleague, a neighbour.

“The question on everyone’s lips this morning is: why? The Prime Minister must have thought about that question a lot. So could he tell us why he thinks that the United Kingdom has ended up with a death toll of 100,000, the highest number in Europe?”

READ MORE: UK coronavirus death toll exceeds 115,000 since pandemic began

Johnson said his Government had done everything it could.

He told MPs: “I and the Government take full responsibility for all the actions I have taken, we’ve taken, during this pandemic to fight this disease. And, yes … there will indeed be a time when we must learn the lessons of … what has happened, reflect on them and prepare.”

He added: “I don’t think that moment is now, when we are in the throes of fighting this wave of the new variant, when 37,000 people are struggling with Covid in our hospitals, and I think what the country wants is for us to come together as a parliament and … as politicians and to work to keep the virus under control … as we are, and to continue to roll out the fastest vaccination programme in Europe.”

Starmer accused Johnson of “avoiding the question of why” and, he warned, “vital lessons won’t be learned”.

In his question, Blackford pointed to comments made by Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh.

The academic told the BBC: “Unfortunately the number of people dying is not going to decline quickly, and even then it will remain for a while at a really high rate so we’re absolutely not out of it.

“I think where we are now is a legacy of poor decisions that were taken when we eased restrictions earlier in the year, particularly around travel, and then of course the variant has created extra pressure.”

Blackford said: “Since the start of this pandemic you’ve promised to always follow the advice of scientists. Well this morning scientists have said that this Government is responsible for a legacy of poor decisions during this pandemic. Does the PM still agree with the scientists?”

Johnson replied: “We’ve throughout followed scientific advice and done everything we can to minimise disease and minimise suffering throughout the country … There are no easy solutions when you’re facing dilemmas as tragic as the ones being confronted by countries around the world.”

Later Johnson said Brexit could help the UK strike a trade deal to scrap punitive tariffs imposed by the US on whisky. Responding to a question from LibDem MP Christine Jardine, he said: “One of the reasons for leaving the EU is that we will be able to do a free trade deal with the US and to obviate tariffs of the kind.”