NEWPORT East MP Jessica Morden has written to the prime minister with a selection of her constituents' complaints over the Dominic Cummings lockdown scandal.

She said Boris Johnson's "unwillingness" to hold his chief aide to account had "undermined public confidence in the government's handling of the [coronavirus] pandemic", and called for an urgent inquiry.

Mr Cummings made headlines last month when it emerged he had travelled 260 miles to stay with family in Durham, ostensibly in case his son needed childcare, in a move critics said broke the spirit and the letter of the lockdown rules the UK government had devised.

Mr Johnson later defended his aide, saying he had acted "legally, responsibly, and with integrity" and "followed the instincts of every father".

Speaking to the Argus, Ms Morden said: "There is huge frustration about Dominic Cummings' behaviour and the prime minister's failure to address the questions raised.

"I think it's completely understandable that people are angry, and I've collated just some of the comments I've received on the matter from constituents and sent them directly to the prime minister."

Among the Newport residents whose concerns have been sent to Downing Street are people who adhered to the lockdown rules, even though it meant missing the chance to say goodbye to dying family members.

"It took everything to stop me from following my own ‘instincts’ to travel to be by my father's bedside as he struggled for breath and died scared and alone,” wrote one resident whose father died of Covid-19.

"Our family would happily have risked Covid-19 to have the chance to grieve properly and say goodbye," wrote another resident, whose family "did what was expected of us and stayed away" in the days before an elderly relative died.

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Other constituents to write include parents whose autistic children are struggling to deal with the lockdown rules, and a man unable to be at his wife's side for the birth of their first child.

In circumstances similar to Mr Cummings' Durham trip, another Newport resident said they "complied with the rules" and did not travel to provide childcare when a family member displayed Covid-19 symptoms.

"Imagine my anger when I realised that a similar dilemma had been handled very differently by Dominic Cummings and that the prime minister and his cabinet backed his actions,” they added.

Ms Morden said: "Over the last two months millions of people across the UK - including hundreds of constituents in Newport East who've been in touch with my office, many having been in tragic circumstances - have had to make incredibly difficult choices involving loved ones."

Leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, was "absolutely right" in suggesting the scandal "creates the impression there is one rule for the prime minister's unelected closest adviser, and another for the general public", she said.

"The whole issue raises serious questions about both the prime minister's judgement and priorities."