THE Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has urged voters to 'look past' the resignation of Owen Paterson as they head to the polls later this month.

Mr Johnson visited Oswestry on Friday, December 3 as part Conservative party candidate Neil Shastri-Hurst's North Shropshire by-election campaign.

The PM visited Day Lewis Pharmacy in English Walls, to check in on the progress of the Covid-19 booster jab programme.

Speaking to the Advertizer Mr Johnson said that Mr Shastri-Hurst was the man to win back the confidence of the voters.

"Number one, I think [Owen Paterson] did the right thing in resigning.

"But I really, really hope that the circumstances of his departure will not mean that people ignore what Neil has to offer, and the amazing progress this government is making.

"It's wonderful to be with Neil here in Oswestry, watching him literally, physically get stuck in and helping his future constituents and actually vaccinating them himself.

"That harks back to the growth and recovery and Neil is personally assisting in that."

Mr Johnson's visit also coincided with the return of Oswestry's Christmas Fair, after a Covid-enforced hiatus.

But with the Omicron-variant of Covid beginning to emerge, Johnson was asked whether such events should be going ahead.

"People have got to follow the guidance," he said.

"I think that Oswestry can have a great Christmas, but let's all just follow the guidance that we've got that.

"So that doesn't mean everybody should cancel their parties or cancel nativity plays, it's not what we're saying, we're just saying follow the advice that we're giving.

"So that means the measures are very tough on transport particularly international travelling, so you have to quarantine when you get here until you get a PCR test.

"And then a lot of countries are on the on the red list.

"But we're also saying that if you come into contact with it with a omicron case then you have to self isolate for the 10 days.

"Plus we're saying masks on public transport and in in retail and I think people get that.

"Of course you could always go for a different approach of doing more with this or less with that, but I think people can see that it's a balanced approach until we know a bit more about Omicron."