LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer will not be doing Prime Minister’s Questions or responding to the Budget after testing positive for Covid, Labour has said.

Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband stood in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions, as the Labour leader was isolating.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab were among those Conservative MPs wearing masks in the Commons chamber, although Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg was not.

Mask-wearing on the Tory benches was mixed during Prime Minister’s Questions.

On Tuesday, the House of Commons ordered everyone except MPs will have to wear face coverings while on the parliamentary estate due to rising Covid-19 cases.

Starmer was forced to self-isolate back in July hours after clashing with Boris Johnson in Commons and will now be forced to stay away for at least two weeks.

Rishi Sunak prepares to announce Budget 2021

Chancellor Rishi Sunak told Cabinet ministers the “three building blocks” of the Budget were “strong public services, infrastructure innovation and skills”.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Chancellor also pledged to use post-Brexit freedoms to deviate from EU rules to “deliver substantive reform of our tax system”.

The spokesman said: “The Chancellor outlined his plans for the Budget and Spending Review that will deliver a stronger economy for the British people, promoting high skills, high productivity and higher wages.

“He also set out how strong public services, infrastructure innovation and skills, and support for working families were the three building blocks of this Budget, emphasising that there would be strong investment in all three including £6 billion to help clear NHS backlogs and £3 billion investment in skills.

“The Chancellor described how the levelling up agenda would be the golden thread that runs through this Spending Review and Budget, delivering on our promises to spread opportunity across our country.

“He stated that this Budget prepares for a new economy post-Covid and is a Budget that will take the opportunities leaving the EU has afforded us to deliver substantive reform of our tax system."

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