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Boris Johnson has been accused by Labor of not hearing government advice on the coronavirus after he told Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s questions that “it was not true” that the nursing home sector had been warned that it was unlikely to face an outbreak.
In a complicated series of exchanges in the Commons, Starmer put Johnson under intense pressure to explain the extent of deaths in nursing homes.
Johnson also declined to say why the government had stopped publishing daily international comparisons of Covid-19 deaths, now the United Kingdom had the highest number of deaths in Europe and the second highest in the world.
Upon opening his interrogation, Starmer observed new figures indicating that 40% of all UK coronavirus deaths had occurred in nursing homes, and asked why until March 12 the main government advice was that it was ” very unlikely “that people in care homes may be affected.
“Does the prime minister accept that the government was too slow to protect people in nursing homes?” the Asked the Labor leader.
Johnson said, “No, and it wasn’t true that the council said so. Actually, we brought the lockdown into care homes before the general lockdown. And what we’ve seen is a concerted action plan to address what, no doubt, It has been a terrible epidemic in nursing homes. “
Johnson said it was “absolutely true that the death toll has been too high,” but insisted that the government was reversing the trend of deaths in nursing homes.
Starmer replied: “I am surprised that the prime minister consults his own government’s council until March 12.”
Labor later posted a link to a government website about Covid-19 advice for the care sector, which it says was “highly unlikely that someone receiving care in a care home or community would become infected.” The page says the council was withdrawn on March 13.
Starmer asked Johnson if he agreed with the opinion reported by a hospital doctor that government policy had “planted” the epidemic in care homes by transferring Covid-19 patients from hospitals.
Johnson said that discharge from the facility decreased in March and April and that the tests had already been done.
Pressing the prime minister on official death statistics released Tuesday, Starmer asked him to explain why there appeared to be 10,000 more deaths than the average in April, even beyond those officially attributed to the virus.
He said: “Now I know that the government must have investigated this. So can the Prime Minister give us the government’s views on these unexplained deaths?
Johnson did not answer the question, only saying that Covid-19 was “a terrible disease that affects some groups much more than others.”
Starmer replied: “The Prime Minister says that solving the problem in nursing homes is crucial, but that can only happen if the numbers are understood and I was therefore disappointed that the Prime Minister did not have an answer to the question so obvious as to what those 10,000 unexplained deaths are. “
Labor then announced that Starmer had written to the prime minister asking him to correct the record.
Juxtaposing Johnson’s comments and the official advice he had quoted, Starmer wrote: “In this time of national crisis, it is more important than ever that government ministers be accurate in the information they provide. Given this, I hope that you will come to the House of Commons as soon as possible to correct the record and acknowledge that this was an official government guide regarding nursing homes. “
During PMQ, Starmer also asked why a chart showing global death comparisons had been removed from Tuesday’s 10th daily news conference.
Starmer said: “A version of this slide has been shown at press conference No. 10 every day since March 30, that is, seven weeks. Yesterday, the government stopped publishing the international comparison and the slide is gone. . Why?”
Johnson responded that seeking such comparisons was “premature because the correct and final way to make these comparisons will be when we have all excess death totals for all relevant countries.” He urged Starmer to “contain his impatience.”
Starmer said: “I am puzzled. It is not me who seeks to make the comparisons, it is the government slide that has been used for seven weeks to reassure the public. The problem with the prime minister’s response is that it is quite obvious that for seven weeks when we weren’t the highest number in Europe they were used for comparison purposes but as soon as we got to that unenviable place they were thrown out. “
