Downing Street scraps plans for White House-style press briefings

The PM's media chief Allegra Stratton - who had been due to front the briefings - has confirmed the move to the BBC.

She will instead become the spokeswoman for the COP26 climate summit.

The government was criticised for the price tag of its new facilities at 9 Downing Street, which will now be used by the prime minister and officials.

Responding to the news, Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner accused Boris Johnson of "running scared of scrutiny".

She added: "Instead of wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on a pointless vanity project, the prime minister should have used the money to give our NHS heroes a pay rise."

But a No 10 source told the BBC the current format of coronavirus press conferences had been "widely welcomed by the public" and they planned to continue with them to discuss both Covid and "government policy".

Mr Johnson used the room to host a Covid press conference earlier on Tuesday.

The PM's media chief Allegra Stratton - who had been due to front the briefings - has confirmed the move to the BBC.

She will instead become the spokeswoman for the COP26 climate summit.

The government was criticised for the price tag of its new facilities at 9 Downing Street, which will now be used by the prime minister and officials.

Responding to the news, Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner accused Boris Johnson of "running scared of scrutiny".

She added: "Instead of wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on a pointless vanity project, the prime minister should have used the money to give our NHS heroes a pay rise."

But a No 10 source told the BBC the current format of coronavirus press conferences had been "widely welcomed by the public" and they planned to continue with them to discuss both Covid and "government policy".

Mr Johnson used the room to host a Covid press conference earlier on Tuesday.