Boris Johnson is under fire after former Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced his resignation on Saturday night.

Mr Hancock’s resignation has been described as a “massive failure of leadership”.

Matt Hancock resigned as Health Secretary in a letter to Boris Johnson where he says the Government “owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down”.

Boris Johnson said Mr Hancock “should leave office very proud of what you have achieved – not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before Covid-19 struck us”.

Mr Johnson added: “I am grateful for your support and believe that your contribution to public service is far from over.”

In a video posted on Twitter, Matt Hancock said: “I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made, you have made. And those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and that’s why I’ve got to resign.

“I want to thank people for their incredible sacrifices and what they’ve done. Everybody working in the NHS, across social care, everyone involved in the vaccine programme and frankly everybody in this country who has risen to the challenges that we’ve seen over this past 18 months.”

Despite his resignation MPs are criticising the Prime Minister for his decision not to sack his former health secretary after he admitted to breaking social distancing rules by kissing his aide.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: “Matt Hancock is right to resign. But Boris Johnson should have sacked him.”

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford tweeted: “Massive failure of leadership by @BorisJohnson Hancock should have been sacked. A fish rots from its head. So does this UK Government.

“In Scotland of course we will face a choice on our future. We can say goodbye to the chaos and failure of UK leadership and take a step forward.”

Labour chair Anneliese Dodds tweeted: “A Health Secretary who behaved like rules didn’t apply to him. A Prime Minister who didn’t have the guts to remove him. A government riddled with sleaze. Now Matt Hancock has gone, the Prime Minister must clean up this crony government.”

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: Matt Hancock’s legacy as Health Secretary will be one of cronyism and failure. And the fact that Boris Johnson thought Hancock could just carry on regardless brings the Prime Minister’s judgement into question once again.