London, May 12 (PTI) Scotland Yard on Thursday said that it had issued over 100 fixed penalty notice fines for COVID-19 lockdown breaches at UK government offices as part of its ongoing investigation into the so-called partygate scandal.

The Metropolitan Police had previously confirmed 50 fines, including one each issued to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak for attending a birthday party for the British prime minister at the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street in June 2020.

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The force's Operation Hillman inquiry into these illegal gatherings has been ongoing, which has now resulted in a further 50 fines.

“Operation Hillman, the investigation into breaches of COVID-19 regulations in Whitehall and Downing Street, has made more than 100 referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to the ACRO Criminal Records Office,” the Met Police said in a statement.

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“These referrals have continued to be made throughout the period since our last update on Tuesday 12 April and the investigation remains live,” it said.

Downing Street has confirmed that Boris Johnson is not included in the latest wave of fines, which start at around 100 pounds each and get halved to 50 pounds if paid up quickly, something Johnson and Sunak had done last month.

While the identities of those who receive fines are not revealed by the police as normal practice, Downing Street is committed to reveal if further fines are received by the UK PM or any senior Cabinet colleagues.

"We'll have plenty to say about that when the thing's finished," Boris Johnson told reporters, when asked about the issue as he arrived for a special Cabinet meeting taking place at Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Opposition Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy, Angela Rayner, remain under investigation by Durham Police over whether an event with party activists in April last year broke COVID-19 rules.

The inquiry, dubbed “beergate”, was launched after footage emerged of him drinking a beer with colleagues in April 2021 when COVID restrictions were in place.

Starmer and Rayner have maintained no rules were broken at the work event and have pledged to resign from their posts if they are issued with fines by the police, in an attempt to distance themselves from any comparisons with partygate.

There are a string of gatherings under the police scanner to determine whether there was a breach of the law, which at the time imposed a strict ban on social gatherings with anyone outside your own household to control the spread of coronavirus.

Breaches result in fixed penalty notices, or a sanction for breaking the law, and mean a fine needs to be paid within 28 days unless contested. If someone chooses to contest the fine, the police will then review the case and decide whether to withdraw the fine or take the matter to court.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)