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Tag: 2020

  • Ed Davey – 2020 Comments on a Caring Revolution

    Ed Davey – 2020 Comments on a Caring Revolution

    Below are the text of the comments made by Ed Davey, the acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats, on 12 June 2020.

    Coronavirus teaches many lessons. For me, one stands out: the importance of caring and carers – in care homes, supporting vulnerable people at home and millions of unpaid carers looking after loved ones.

    People who’ve never appreciated how the NHS and care sector needed to work more closely together have seen that all too clearly, with the tragedy of COVID care home deaths.

    As someone who’s a carer now, after being a carer in my teenage years, the need for our society to value caring and carers properly has always been a personal driver.

    My young carer experience began when I was 12. My Dad had died when I was four, so when Mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, my brothers and I nursed her at home for three years.

    From looking after her personal care needs to cooking her food, from administering morphine for her pain to talking with her for hours, we were left to it, albeit thankfully with the help of family and neighbours. Still today too many young carers bear the burden alone, isolating them and affecting their education and life chances.

    Of course, people can end up with caring responsibilities at any age. Most unpaid carers are adult women, and people from our black and ethnic minority communities are disproportionately employed as carers on low incomes: issues of equality are firmly bound up with the caring revolution we need.

    A caring revolution isn’t only the right campaign, it’s smart politics too. Carers UK estimate there were around 9 million carers in the UK pre-COVID, and that as many as 4 million more people have become carers during the pandemic.

    So I’m determined Liberal Democrats offer far more to this huge group. I’m starting today by introducing a new Bill in the Commons to secure more flexible employment rights for carers, alongside my five-point plan for carers:

    Employers would have to make reasonable adjustments for carers – helping carers who wish to work to combine a job with caring.

    Carers Allowance would be boosted immediately to £75 a week – a 12% increase

    The amount carers can earn before losing out on Carers Allowance would rise from £128 a week to £160 a week

    Young carers would receive free travel on all public transport

    Carers would be made a protected characteristic in the Equality Act – securing equal rights and protections for carers in the workplace and beyond

    This would be only the start: we must build a caring society to stand the test of time.

    My 12-year-old son John has an undiagnosed neurological condition, meaning he can’t walk or talk properly. He needs care 24/7. As his condition isn’t degenerative, he’ll live far longer than my wife Emily or me. Our single greatest worry is how he will be cared for after we’ve gone. Huge numbers of parents live with similar anxieties.

    As Liberal Democrats, we must champion a more caring society that rewards the role carers play and face up to caring’s long term challenges.

  • Layla Moran – 2020 Comments on Reopening Schools

    Layla Moran – 2020 Comments on Reopening Schools

    Below is the text of the comments made by Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education, on 12 June 2020.

    We all want schools to reopen to more pupils when it is safe for them to do so. Our school leaders, teachers, school staff and governors have been working incredibly hard to already make this happen for some children.

    Our children’s futures must come before party politics

    The safety of teachers, staff, pupils and their families has to be paramount, and we must always follow the science. The only thing worse than keeping our children from learning would be a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The plans for the phased reopening of schools to more pupils in England have experienced setbacks, and have been characterised by divisive debate and tribal politics.

    I believe that we need to show collective leadership, and recognise that our children’s futures must come before party politics.

    That’s why I’ve written a letter to the Prime Minister and Education Secretary, presenting the Liberal Democrat five-point plan for the phased opening of schools more widely in England.

    Our plan includes:

    Safe space registers enabling schools to use local buildings for social distancing.

    Recruiting additional staff through a Teach for Britain campaign.

    An end to the learning void by working with the private sector to ensure no child is unable to access their online learning environment.

    Developing a plan for flexible, phased reopening staggering key year groups. The plan should follow the science and have the trust of parents and the profession by being developed with them, following the lead of Kirsty Williams in Wales.

    Stopping the disadvantage gap from widening further by committing to free schools meals through the summer and a new Summer Learning Fund so disadvantaged pupils can access education through the summer holiday.
    We need to move forward together for the sake of those children whose future is already on the line.

    Having these plans in place will give parents, teachers and pupils the confidence that children can go back to the classroom without putting their health at risk.

    The Government must act now. We need to move forward together for the sake of those children whose future is already on the line.

  • Wera Hobhouse – 2020 Statement on Liberal Democrat Leadership

    Wera Hobhouse – 2020 Statement on Liberal Democrat Leadership

    Below is the text of the statement made by Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, on 15 June 2020.

    The Liberal Democrats need a New Direction. This is why I’m standing for leader.

    Ten years ago, we were filled with great optimism for our future as a party. However, we have ended the decade with real disappointment; eleven MPs, the most right-wing government in recent history, and a departure from the EU.

    We Liberal Democrats cannot pass off all responsibility for this outcome. In hindsight, wrong choices were made.

    Those choices were strategic, not merely tactical. The mistake was to see our party in the political centre, standing equally between right and left. Now, the biggest threat to liberalism – not just in Britain – comes from the right.

    Our reasons for entering coalition with the Conservatives in 2010 were well intended, but we ended up undermining our values. We ultimately legitimised the Conservatives’ long-term illiberal, nationalist agenda.

    This has tarnished our reputation for too long. In this election, we need to make a clean break with the coalition.

    During the years after the coalition this equidistant strain in our strategy continued.

    In the most recent election, we trained our fire equally at the Conservatives and Labour, even though Labour backed a People’s Vote, had a plan to address the climate crisis and wanted to invest in public services to deliver a more equal society.

    On a national level, I believe we need to abandon equidistance between Labour and the Tories, and build a winning, progressive alliance with other parties on the centre left to defeat the Tories at the next election. We need to start having those conversations now.

    We need to fight from where our heart beats, the centre left, and be honest about our values.

    That is my outline pitch for leadership of the party. On my website [https://werahobhouse.org.uk/#policyfocus], I will be adding to my six key policy platforms over the coming weeks. I’ve already set out my position on Europe, and on a progressive alliance.

    I’m looking forward to discussing how we reform ourselves as a party, by becoming a nimble, decentralised campaign force, and implementing the recommendations from the Election Review.

    This should be part of our local strategy to win back control of councils that we have lost. We build from the ground up. Door by door, street by street, ward by ward. I’ll be publishing my full plan for this soon.

  • Marsha de Cordova – 2020 Comments on Commission on BAME Issues

    Marsha de Cordova – 2020 Comments on Commission on BAME Issues

    Below is the text of the comments made by Marsha de Cordova, the Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, on 15 June 2020.

    We are in the midst of a global health pandemic that has sharply exposed deep structural inequalities which have long since needed urgently addressing.

    That the Prime Minister now says he wants to ‘change the narrative… So we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination’ is condescending and designed to let himself and his Government off the hook.

    Boris Johnson’s Government must acknowledge and act on the racial injustices and should now move to deliver a race equality strategy that sets out plans to reduce the structural inequalities and institutional racism faced by ethnic minorities in Britain.

  • Andy McDonald – 2020 Comments on Safe Workplaces

    Andy McDonald – 2020 Comments on Safe Workplaces

    Below is the text of the comments made by Andy McDonald, the Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights and Protections, on 15 June 2020.

    Laws to protect workers are not worth the paper they’re written on if we cannot enforce them. The Government has been too slow too often in tackling the coronavirus outbreak and needs to up its game.

    Workers need to be able to trust the Prime Minister when he says it is safe to return to work outside the home, and have confidence that their health and their families’ health will be protected.

    Without full resourcing, there cannot be an effective system for workplace inspections, putting workers, their families and the public at risk, and undermining the national effort to fight this virus.

  • Lucy Powell – 2020 Comments on Supporting Hospitality Reopening

    Lucy Powell – 2020 Comments on Supporting Hospitality Reopening

    Below are the comments made by Lucy Powell, the Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, on 15 June 2020.

    Small businesses closed to keep us safe. With retail now re-opening, we should shop local and support high streets to give them a boost.

    It’s vital that ministers turn their attention to the hospitality sector, providing clarity and guidance so that businesses can plan to reopen in the coming weeks. That means no more backroom briefings to Tory MPs, and more public advice and guidance to companies about how they can safely reopen.

    Alongside this, we urge the government to publish an action plan which maximises economic viability, whilst minimising the risk to the health of customers and staff. If they fail to act, our communities will lose much-loved pubs, bars and restaurants, and we’ll see a wave of closures and unemployment which will damage villages, towns and cities across the country.

  • Matt Hancock – 2020 Interview with Andrew Marr

    Matt Hancock – 2020 Interview with Andrew Marr

    Below is the text of the interview between Andrew Marr and Matt Hancock, broadcast on 7 June 2020.

    Andrew Marr:

    You’ll have heard Professor Edmunds there saying very, very clearly he understood it was difficult and it wasn’t easy but he wished that we had locked earlier. Do you agree with that?

    Matt Hancock:

    No.

    Andrew Marr:

    No?

    Matt Hancock:

    I think we took the right decisions at the right time and there’s a broad range on SAGE of scientific opinion and we followed – we were guided by the science which means guided by the balance of that opinion, as expressed to ministers through the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser. That’s the right way for it to have been done.

    Andrew Marr:

    I’m not saying it was an easy decision but he is absolutely clear that it cost lives not locking earlier.

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, there are others who equally make different scientific arguments and the way that this is done –

    Andrew Marr:

    Is there anyone who thinks it didn’t cost lives?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well yes. If you listen to the balance of opinion on SAGE, a hundred people on SAGE approximately, what we do as ministers is we take the scientific advice, channelled through the Chief Medical Officer on the medical side, the Chief Scientific Adviser on the broader science and then we have to – as Professor Edmund said, we have to make the balanced judgements based on that advice. And that’s the way it works. So you’ll always, in a body of a hundred people you’ll always find differing voices. It’s totally reasonable.

    Andrew Marr:

    And yet absolutely clear you are sure that locking when you did and not earlier did not cost lives?

    Matt Hancock:

    I’m sure, and as I keep looking back on that period, I’m sure that taking into account everything we knew at that moment we made the – my view is – that we made the right decisions at the right time. But the other thing I’d say, Andrew, is that I spend most of my time trying to rid this country, rid all of us of this ghastly virus and really most of my time and energy I devote to looking forwards as well of course of trying to learn lessons from what happened in the past.

    Andrew Marr:

    The reason I’m hanging over that issue about when the country locked up is because right now we’re also wondering is this the right time to unlock? And can I ask you in the same spirit, looking at exactly where the R number is, just hovering around one, whether you’re absolutely sure we’re not going a little fast.

    Matt Hancock:

    Well we’ve got to be very cautious and we’ve got to have a safety first approach. And I thought that on that Professor Edmunds expressed it exactly as I would, which is that with the R below one, the SAGE estimate taking into account all of the models, not just the one that’s been in the news a lot in the last 24 hours, but all ten of them, is that the R is between .7 and .9. That means that the number of new infections continues to fall. It’s around 5,000, 5 and a half thousand a day on the best estimates, but it’s always hard to estimate that.

    Andrew Marr:

    I was going to say this is in a sense art not science because these are old figures you’re getting, there’s a time lag and so forth. To an extent you’re flying blind on all of this and on the Cambridge figures the R number is actually above one in the North West of England.

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, it’s actually science, it’s not art. It is science on which we base these decisions and science is necessarily looking at uncertainty. Now you say it’s flying blind. That’s no longer true. Because the Office for National Statistics Survey and a separate survey by Ipsos, Mori and Imperial are both surveys of actual test results in the community right now, which is different from some of the models that are essentially model predictions.

    Andrew Marr:

    Okay. So we know we’re going ahead into a period where more shops are going to reopen, where places of worship are going to reopen and so on. What would have to happen now for the government to put the brakes on that?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well we don’t want R to go above one. We’ve been absolutely clear about that and the estimate is that R is below one and as Professor Edmunds said, the overall estimate taking into account everything we know is that R is below one in each region. I know that in the North West –

    Andrew Marr:

    What about an increase in the number of infections?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, if R goes above one then that leads to an increase to the number of infections. That is by definition, that’s the logic of R. So the reason R is important –

    Andrew Marr:

    At that point you stop the unlocking?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well the reason R is important is that if R is below one then the number of infections continues to fall and that’s what we’ve seen over recent weeks.

    Andrew Marr:

    I’m just saying you get direct data in about the number of infections as well and if that goes up do you reverse the unlocking?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well we get survey data about the number of infections. We get direct data about the number of positive test results. What I want is everybody who has the infection to come forward with a test. But addressing the substance of your question, absolutely we are open to, if we need to, to taking local action in the first instance to crack down on a local outbreak, as we’ve already done and we’re prepared to do more, and we’ve always been open to having to reverse some of the measures. But we don’t want to do that and that’s why we’re taking a cautious approach and a safety first approach which means for instance from Monday being able to – Monday next – being able to reopen private prayer. I think is incredibly important for many, many people who have been feeling a lack of that spiritual ability to pray in their place of worship. Again, that’s got to be done very carefully and safely and we’re learning as a society how to be more Covid secure.

    Andrew Marr:

    But we be absolutely clear if there’s an increase in infections the government will re-impose a national lockdown?

    Matt Hancock:

    We’ve always said that. We’ve always said if necessary and you’ve got to look at the overall approach. This isn’t the number moving about from day to day or week to week, this is the overall strategic approach where the strategy has been clear from the start and the number of those new infections has been coming down and down and down and down.

    Andrew Marr:

    There’s been a lot of talk about local lockdowns and like many people I don’t completely understand this. When you say a local lockdown does that means a small area around a care home where there might be a problem? Does it mean a town? Does it mean an entire region or city of Britain? What does it mean?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well preferably the former.

    Andrew Marr:

    So it could be very small, very localised?

    Matt Hancock:

    Absolutely. Take Weston-super-Mare. In Weston-super-Mare the action that we took when we saw a spike in the number of infections was to close the hospital to new admissions. We then put in place testing of asymptomatic people in the community around the hospital and those connected to the hospital and we found that it hadn’t led to community spread because of the action that had been taken.

    Andrew Marr:

    So you just had to close down Weston-super-Mare.

    Matt Hancock:

    Correct.

    Andrew Marr:

    We saw people on the beach so it was just around that area.

    Matt Hancock:

    Correct. Now of course we looked at that and what we might have to do, but we instead simply by stopping the hospital having new people coming in and by very, very significant infection control procedures in the hospital and with the support of the brilliant local Director of Public Health, Leader of the Council, Public Health England at a regional level and of course the NHS we managed to deal with that local outbreak.

    Andrew Marr:

    It worked.

    Matt Hancock:

    It worked. And that is a model of how we can do this elsewhere.

    Andrew Marr:

    So let’s imagine – I won’t name one – but let’s imagine a big city with a lot of people living in it and you see a spike in the R rate, you see a spike in the number of infections in that city. Is it plausible that you then actually try and cut that city off from the rest of the country? Refuse to allow people to travel from wherever it is to someone else in the UK? Do you actually impose that kind of lockdown on part of the UK or is that actually practically impossible?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, we do have the legal powers to do that but that is not our starting point and the starting point is actually much more localised than that, to try find a much more localised area within a part of a city. And remember the virus spreads by human contact and therefore if you can get this early enough and spot it early enough, then you will get quite a localised area of the outbreak, because human contact tends to be local by its nature. And so actually the focus is to get as early as possible, as local as possible and things like tackling an outbreak in one hospital or in one very small area is what we’re really aiming at here.

    Andrew Marr:

    You mentioned track and trace just now. The system’s been up and running I think for ten days now. How many people have been contacted?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well sadly, I’m not going to tell you that and the reason is because I want to ensure that the statistics authorities are very happy with how we’re collecting and publishing this data before I say anything on the record because we want to get this absolutely right.

    Andrew Marr:

    16,500 people have tested positive in the last period. Is that the kind of numbers that are actually going to be contacted, because if not, if it’s much lower than that, then the system is not working.

    Matt Hancock:

    Oh, thousands are being contacted but I won’t go into more details than thousands unfortunately until the statistics authorities are happy with exactly how these things are measured, but we will be publishing full details and a fully range of statistics once that’s all signed off by the statisticians.

    Andrew Marr:

    The app. You’re wearing your NHS badge, what’s happened to the NHS app? It was supposed to be here three weeks ago and no sign of it.

    Matt Hancock:

    Well we learnt, one of the things we learnt on the pilot on the Isle of Wight which has been very successful and on the Isle of Wight they’ve done a great job of – through the pilot. One of the things we learnt is to get in place the human based system first, that’s what we’re doing and then the technology can add to that.

    Andrew Marr:

    But we were told by you and many others that the app was going to be essential. Are you saying it’s not essential and it’s not going to come in, or what?

    Matt Hancock:

    I’m saying that it will help, it’s an advantage and it will come in but we want to make sure we get this system embedded first with the human contact tracers. After all, the key thing about test and trace isn’t just that you trace the virus, it’s that the people who you find then have to isolate for two weeks and that’s quite a big ask. The evidence is that the overwhelming majority are doing that when the NHS phones them up and asks them to but that’s a very important part of it.

    Andrew Marr:

    So we’ve talked about tracking, let’s talk about testing specifically. How many people were tested yesterday?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, the latest figures we’ve got is for Friday and it was just over 200,000.

    Andrew Marr:

    200,000 because you were giving us these figures on a daily basis, testing the number of people, and then you stopped.

    Matt Hancock:

    No, sorry. The number of tests were just over 200,000.

    Andrew Marr: Number of people tested I was asking.

    Matt Hancock:

    Well the number of people tested, we will be bringing that data back. The challenge there is that because we’ve introduced different types of testing, making sure that you ensure that you only count one person once amongst the four pillars is a complicated statistical process. So again that’s with the statisticians to sort.

    Andrew Marr:

    In short it’s a bit of a muddle at the moment. Sir David Norgrove, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority as you know said:
    ”The aim seems to be to show the largest possible number of tests at the expense of understanding. It’s not surprising given their inadequacy the data on testing is so widely criticised and often mistrusted. Did that sting?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, the thing about it is that it’s not true. There are other ways that you could measure testing to give much higher figures and we chose not to. What we chose – advised by my Permanent Secretary – are the most accurate ways to show the testing that the government is doing, which is the number of tests either directly administered or sent out, because that’s the point at which the government is doing its job. So that’s why we measured it in that way and that’s why I’m so cautious about giving further information before we’ve got this all straightened out with the statistical authorities.

    Andrew Marr:

    Has everyone living in or working in a care home now been tested?

    Matt Hancock:

    We have now managed successful to deliver tests to every care home that is eligible both for staff testing and for residents to be tested for every –

    Andrew Marr:

    So anyone in a care home across Britain watching this programme has been tested or they’re deluded?

    Matt Hancock:

    Or the tests have been delivered. So the goal we set is that the tests will be delivered by the 6th of June. That was completed yesterday I’m very glad to say, on time and what that means is that of about three quarters of a million people living in just over 9,000 eligible care homes, the tests have been delivered and –

    Andrew Marr:

    This is the programme, isn’t it, because as David Norgrove said, delivered and tested are two different things. So you can’t actually say they’ve all been tested. Which is what they were promised.

    Matt Hancock:

    No, they were promised that we would get tests to them.

    Andrew Marr:

    Okay.

    Matt Hancock:

    And this is – actually I’m being extremely precise. I have not said that we have tested everybody. What I’ve said is the tests have been delivered. Now the care homes themselves asked us to do it in this way because they say that we were right at the start of this requiring them to send back the tests within a very short space of time. They say actually if you’re running a care home sometimes you may want a couple of days to prepare the residents, to make sure you’re ready. So actually the way that we’re doing it in this way – I’m using my words very precisely – is because the care homes wanted us to do it this way. And I respect that and I think it’s very important to work with the sector.

    Andrew Marr:

    Now, we talked earlier on about community transmission. You told people not to protest yesterday about Black Lives Matter. They did protest. You’ve seen all of that. What’s your reaction? Do you agree, for instance, with Professor Edmunds, who said there is risk with that?

    Matt Hancock:

    Yes, I do. I’ve worked all my political life to tackle discrimination and to support diversity. And the problem is that
    the virus doesn’t discriminate. And there’s a reason that we have laws in place – temporarily – to say that gatherings of over six people should not happen. And that’s because the virus spreads. And the problem therefore is that – I just wish people – I really hope people make the argument, and I will support them in making that argument. I hope that they will make that case stronger. But please don’t gather in groups of more than six, because in groups of more than six that risks spreading the virus and that risks lives. So it is incredibly important – and think of it this way –

    Andrew Marr:

    Sorry, are you saying that because of those protests yesterday and they way those people gathered people will die?

    Matt Hancock:

    The way I’d put it is this: we think that about one in a thousand people has the disease in this country. And so when you
    get groups of thousands gathering, of course the likelihood is some of those people will have the disease, and we know that if you come into contact with people that risks spreading the disease. So Professor Edmunds was absolutely right to say it risks a spread, and the risk of the spread of the disease is that it then risks lives. So I bow to nobody in my support for action to make sure there is true equality of opportunity in this country for everybody, no matter their background.

    Andrew Marr:

    Do you think the police should have been enforcing the law in that case?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, I think the police did a fantastic job and I’m very proud of the British police for their professionalism, their restraint in the face of the tiny amount of violence – and I would stress it was a very small amount of violence later on in the day. And I think that we can all be proud that the British police are not like the American police in this way, and I think that that’s a very good thing.

    Andrew Marr:

    Thinking about diversity in general, when you look at this government, you look at the Cabinet, there’s a very, very stinging, very interesting piece by Sajid Javid in the Sunday Times this morning about inequality and racism in Britain, but there are still no black faces in the Cabinet are there?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, hold on, Andrew. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, are both from ethnic minority backgrounds.

    Andrew Marr:

    But not black.

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, until the latest reshuffle Kwasi Kwarteng was sitting around the Cabinet table with me. I think that this is one of the most diverse Cabinets in history, and that’s been a record under Boris Johnson and I think – I welcome that. I think that’s a really good thing. And what really matters is tackling inequality of opportunity amongst all sectors of society.

    Andrew Marr:

    So Public Health England produced a report, as you know, on why BAME people are more likely to die of this disease. But there were no recommendations in that report and a lot of MPs, mostly opposition MPs, were really, really concerned about that. Surely it’s not enough to say, ‘here’s the problem,’ you have to have some kind of answer to it.

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, we have been taking action all the way through. We didn’t wait for the report to take action.

    Andrew Marr:

    As Health Secretary what are you doing to better protect BAME people from this disease?

    Matt Hancock:

    In the first instance, the occupations that are more frequently taken by people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are also some of those that have the biggest risks of infection. So, for instance –

    Andrew Marr:

    Cleaners, nurses, doctors.

    Matt Hancock:

    Absolutely. And – or in fact all staff in hospitals. But the thing is to protect that whole occupation and everybody in it. Also those who are critical on the frontline in public transport, for instance. Bus drivers, taxi drivers. So we’re taking forward the PHE work, we have already – PHE have done the analysis that shows that this is a very significant problem, and Kemi Badenoch, the Minister for Equalities, is taking it forward to ask exactly that question why.

    How much of it is down to occupation, for instance, how much of it is down to co-morbidities, how much of it is down to housing – because we know that housing inequality has an impact.

    Andrew Marr:

    In a very balanced response, she also said that the report had gaps and hasn’t gone far enough. ‘There was more that I was hoping to see from this review.’

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, if it had gone far enough then I wouldn’t have asked her to take the work forward with the prime minister, who obviously cares very deeply about getting this agenda right.

    Andrew Marr:

    The big picture. We’ve had 40,000 deaths and probably a lot more than that in this country, might be 55, might be 60,000. The prime minister said that he took full responsibility and the government have been doing everything they could in tackling coronavirus, ‘and I am very proud of our record.’ Can I put it to you that being very proud of our record, in terms of the number deaths that we have had in this country, is not right?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, I mourn each one of those deaths. And in a way, you know, 40,000 – the number is less important than the fact that each of these is somebody who has died, with a family who will never be the same again. And we have put unprecedented amounts of action into place, right across the board, to deal with the crisis. And we’re fully accountable for that.

    Andrew Marr:

    You’re working very, very hard, you’re probably putting your life and soul into this but are you really proud?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, my team, I’m very proud of the work my team have done. Particularly, you know, starting up of test and trace system from scratch and getting the testing system going. Making sure that we flatten the curve. Protecting the NHS, building those Nightingale hospitals, making sure the NHS wasn’t overrun. So there’s enormous amounts of things that I’m very proud of.

    Andrew Marr:

    40,000 or more dead?

    Matt Hancock:

    Well, of course nobody wants to see a pandemic at all.

    Andrew Marr:

    Matt Hancock, thanks very much indeed for talking to us
    today.

  • Mike Kane – 2020 Comments on the Government and the Aviation Industry

    Mike Kane – 2020 Comments on the Government and the Aviation Industry

    Below is the text of the comments made by Mike Kane, the Shadow Aviation Minister, on 13 June 2020.

    This cross party report lays out in stark detail that the Government has failed in its fundamental duty to protect jobs and livelihoods in response to the covid-19 crisis.

    Labour has consistently called for a sectoral deal that supports the whole aviation industry including the supply chain based on our six conditions. Tory Ministers have failed to act and workers are paying the price.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2020 Comments on Grenfell and Cladding

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2020 Comments on Grenfell and Cladding

    Below is the text of the comments made by Thangam Debbonaire, the Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, on 13 June 2020.

    Three years on from the Grenfell tragedy, it is a national disgrace that so many people are still living in the shadow of deadly flammable cladding.

    Ministers have missed their own deadline for cladding removal and must now take the enforcement action they promised to make buildings safe.

    Grenfell-style cladding is just the tip of an iceberg. At the current pace it could take decades to end the cladding scandal. This vital work must speed up. It is a matter of life and death.

  • Nicola Sturgeon – 2020 Statement on the Coronavirus

    Nicola Sturgeon – 2020 Statement on the Coronavirus

    Below is the text of the statement made by Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, on 11 June 2020.

    Introduction

    Good afternoon,

    I will start with the usual update on some of the key statistics in relation to Covid-19.

    As at 9 o’clock this morning, there have been 15,682 positive cases confirmed through our NHS labs – that’s an increase of 17 from yesterday.

    A total of 909 patients are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That represents a total decrease of 78 since yesterday, including a decrease of 10 in the number of confirmed cases.

    A total of 21 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid 19. That is an increase of 3 since yesterday – but all of the increase I should say is in suspected cases.

    I am also able to confirm today that since 5 March, a total of 3,858 patients who had tested positive and needed hospital treatment for the virus have been able to leave hospital – and I wish all of them well.

    And in the past 24 hours, 5 deaths were registered of patients confirmed through a test as having the virus – the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, is now therefore 2,439.

    As always, it’s important to stress that the figures I have just read out are not just statistics. They all represent individuals who right now are being mourned by their families and friends. So – again – I want to send my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this illness.

    I also want to express my thanks – as always – to our health and care workers for the extraordinary work that they continue to do in very difficult and testing circumstances.

    R Number

    Now I want to highlight three issues today – firstly I will cover our latest report, which has just been published, on the “R” number”; I will update on some developments in the construction industry; and talk about support that we are making available for students over the summer.

    I’ll then also close by reflecting on the importance of our Test and Protect system, which was launched two weeks ago, and our wider public health guidance.

    Let me start though with today’s report on the “R” number.

    As you will recall, the R number shows the rate at which this virus is reproducing. So in summary if R is above 1, every person with the virus will infect more than 1 other person, and the virus will then spread exponentially. If R though is below 1, the number of people with the virus will fall.

    We estimate that the R number in Scotland, as of last Friday – 5 June – was between 0.6 and 0.8. That is a lower estimate than for two weeks ago, when we calculated that the number was likely to be between 0.7 and 0.9. So, under that estimate, we expect that the virus will continue to decline.

    In addition, we estimate that last Friday, 4,500 people in Scotland had the virus and were infectious. Our previous estimate, for 29 May, had been that 11,500 people were likely to be infectious.

    Now that, of course, sounds like a very big decline, so it’s worth me stressing, that we don’t actually think the number of infectious people has more than halved in just one week. What has been happening is that we have been reassessing our estimates for previous weeks, based on the latest figures available to us. So, in short, it is likely that the 11,500 was an overestimate, not that the number has halved in a single week.

    However, notwithstanding that, these latest estimates reflect the encouraging data that we have seen in the last couple of weeks, and there is no doubt looking at all of this data, that we are making very real progress in combatting and suppressing the virus in Scotland.

    However as always, it is important that I inject a note of caution. Firstly, the estimates I have reported to you today, of course don’t yet take account of the phase 1 changes that we made to begin the easing out of lockdown, and we need to continue to monitor any impact from that carefully.

    Secondly, the number of people who we estimate will be infectious is certainly smaller than it was, but it is also still large enough to make the virus take off rapidly again if the R number was to go much above 1. So for these reasons we need to celebrate the progress but continue to be careful and cautious.

    Next week, in fact a week today, we will have a further review of the lockdown restrictions.

    I am currently very hopeful that at that point we will be able to lift some further restrictions. We may not be able to do everything in phase 2, but I hope that we can do certainly, at least, some of that. Of course it is also possible that some of these changes will be phased over a three week period, but I’m hopeful that we will be able to take some further important steps forward when we report on the review next week.

    But it is important again to stress that we must do that cautiously and proportionately. And I will also make the point I frequently make, but it is not just an obvious point, it is a very important point, we will be in a better position to lift more restrictions if all of us continue to stick with the current guidelines and further suppress the virus to lower levels than it is even now.

    Construction sector

    Now one area where we judge we can make some further progress now, is in the construction industry. I can confirm today that the sector will be able to move to the next step of its restart plan – which is something that was always envisaged as part of phase 1 of our route map. So it is not a change to phase 1.

    Earlier steps have allowed for health and safety planning, followed by preparatory work at construction sites.

    And moving to the next step of the industry plan will now allow workers to return to construction sites gradually, while using measures such as physical distancing and hand hygiene to ensure that they can do so safely.

    I am very grateful to the sector and trade unions for the very responsible approach that they have taken during an incredibly difficult time.

    It’s important to be very clear though, that we still have a long way to go before construction will be working at full capacity, but there is no doubt this is a significant step in allowing an important industry to return safely to work.

    I can also confirm today that we are extending our Help to Buy scheme – which was due to come to an end next March – we are extending that to March 2022.

    Under that scheme, the Government provides up to 15% of the cost of buying a new-build home, and recovers its share of the funding when the property is sold, or when the share is bought out.

    In recent years, this scheme has helped 17,000 people – more than ¾ of them aged 35 or under – to buy new-build homes. It has also, of course, been a valuable support for house builders. At present, of course, the pandemic means that the scheme is not being used.

    So by confirming that it is being extended, I hope we can ensure that more people – who may otherwise have missed out on this scheme – are able to move into new homes in the future, and also that we are to provide a bit more confidence for the construction sector.

    Student support

    The third issue I want to talk about is support for students.

    We know that many students rely on income from seasonal or part-time jobs – especially over the summer months – and that the economic impact of Covid will therefore cause them particular difficulties.

    And that can be especially important for higher education students, who, unlike further education students, can’t usually claim benefits over the summer.

    We have already provided additional support for students, and we have also suspended debt recovery action by the Student Awards Agency. And today, we are bringing forward more than £11 million of further support.

    This funding will be administered by colleges and universities to help higher education students who most need it. And it is a further way in which we are trying to support students, at a time when many of them are still facing potential hardship.

    Test and Protect

    Now the final issue I want to cover today relates to my earlier discussion of the R number, and how we hope next week to announce some further changes to lockdown restrictions.

    As we do that – as we gradually, and I emphasise gradually, return to meeting more people, and living a bit more freely, which all of us are of course keen to do – our test and protect system will become ever more important in helping us all to live a less restricted life, while still being able to suppress the virus.

    Now yesterday, we published the first data from the system, which started two weeks ago today.

    And that data shows, that in the period up to 7 June, 681 people who reported symptoms had tested positive for Covid. As of yesterday, contact tracing had been completed for 481 of those, and was in progress for a further 50.

    Amongst those 531 cases, a total of 741 contacts had been traced – that’s just under 1½ people per case. And of course people’s contacts right now will be lower than normal because of the lockdown restrictions that are in place.

    Now there’s two points that I think that are important for me to note about this data – and it is very initial data.

    The first is that the number of people who have tested positive is higher than is suggested by our daily figures – the ones I report on new cases here each day.

    That is because our daily figures do not yet cover tests from labs run by the UK Government – such as those for regional test centres and mobile units – although we will be able to include that information very soon.

    In addition, the current figures slightly overstate the number of cases where no tracing has been carried out so far. One reason for that is that some historic cases – from the time when the system was being piloted – still feature in the data. If that historic data is removed, the proportion of completed cases increases from 71% to 86%.

    We will publish more detailed data on test and protect in the weeks ahead because it is important not just that government understands how well it is working but you the public can see that too. But I want to be very clear that our preliminary indications are that test and protect is already working well. And of course we will identify areas for improvement as and when they arise and as the system becomes ever more established.

    Fundamentally though, I want to stress to everyone watching just how important test and protect is and how important is it going to continue to be in the weeks and potentially the months that lie ahead.

    I guess it essentially represents for all of us a kind of social bargain.

    If you have symptoms, or – and in some ways actually this is the much more difficult bit, if you have been in contact with someone who has symptoms, even if you don’t have symptoms yourself – we will ask you to isolate completely.

    We will support you in doing that, if you need that support – but it is still a very tough thing to ask people to do.

    However, and this is the social bargain bit, if all of us agree to do that when necessary, it means that all of us together collectively will be able to continue to emerge from lockdown while keeping the virus under control.

    At any one time, some of us will have to self-isolate for a period, so that together, all of us can start to lead a less restricted life.

    So please, if you have symptoms of Covid-19 – remember that’s a new continuous cough, or a fever, or a loss of or change in your sense of taste or smell – please do not wait for a few hours or a day or two to see if you feel better. Start self-isolating immediately that you experience these symptoms, and ask for a test immediately.

    To remind you, you can do that by going to the NHS inform website, or by phoning NHS 24 on 0800 028 2816 – that’s 0800 028 2816. If we all do that, when we experience symptoms and if any of us are contacted to say we have been in close contact with someone who has the virus, and we agree to self-isolate, then all of us are going to help enable the whole country to get out of lockdown, not just a bit more quickly, but more safely as well.

    Conclusion

    The final point I’d like to make before we move on to questions is that your best way of reducing, the best way of all of us to reduce our chance of being a close contact with somebody with the virus – and of being asked to self-isolate as a result – is by continuing to stick to our key public health guidance. And of course, that is also our best way of avoiding and getting and transmitting the virus.

    So just to remind everybody what that guidance is, you should still be staying home most of the time right now, and you should still be meeting fewer people than you normally would. If your life feels like it is getting back to normal right now, please ask yourself why that is – because it shouldn’t yet be feeling as if it is getting back to normal.

    When you do meet people from another household, you absolutely must stay outdoors, do not go indoors, and you must stay 2 metres apart from members of the other household.

    Please, do not meet up with more than one other household at a time, don’t meet more than one in the course of any single day – and please keep to a maximum, I stress a maximum, of 8 people in any group.

    Wash your hands often, make sure you’re doing it thoroughly. If you are out of your home take hand sanitiser with you.

    Wear a face covering if you are in an enclose space, where physical distancing may be more difficult, for example in a shop or on public transport. Again I want to stress that. We know that one of us wearing a face covering helps reduce the risk of us transmitting the virus to somebody else. And somebody else wearing a face covering reduces the risk of them transmitting the virus to us.

    It’s another way in which we can all act to protect each other.

    Avoid touching hard surfaces – and any you do touch make sure you are cleaning them thoroughly.

    And as I have already covered today, if you have symptoms of Covid-19 – ask for a test immediately, and please follow the advice on self-isolation.

    Above all else, all of us right now should remember that in every single individual decision we take, we are potentially affecting the health and the wellbeing of others, and indeed the wellbeing of the whole country.

    So if all of us continue to do the right thing, if all of us continue to stick to these rules, then we will continue to see the progress that I have been reporting in recent days, and we will be able to come out of lockdown, hopefully even more quickly, but much more importantly than that, we will be able to do that sustainably, because we will come out of lockdown and continue to suppress this virus, which is our overall aim.

    So thank you for everything you have been doing. Please keep doing it, so that together we can continue to make this life saving progress.