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Boris Johnson has “lost control” of the fight against Covid-19 and does not have a clear strategy to defeat the virus, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer says today in his most savage attack yet on the handling of the pandemic by of the government.
Accusing the prime minister of “serial incompetence”, Starmer says that the British people have been disappointed, angry and confused by policies that change almost every week, and that the death toll and infection rate are increasing at a rapid pace. alarming.
Speaking exclusively to Observer, demands that Johnson draw up a new “roadmap” to tackle the crisis in a few days to reassure an increasingly concerned British people that he must clearly establish what the approach will be until a vaccine is deployed.
“I think they have lost control of the virus,” says Starmer. “And I don’t want mortality rates to increase. Nobody does it and the government doesn’t. I am not suggesting that for a minute.
But this is serial incompetence. And the test, trace, and isolate system was abandoned in early March, if you recall, because they said they didn’t have the capacity. It took them months to even try to set up a system again. And they don’t have an effective work system. “
He blames divisions at the top of the government and says city councils and health officials should have been involved and much more confident in fighting local outbreaks. “There is no strategy. There is a void there. And that’s because there is division in the cabinet as to what strategy they should follow.
“I am reflecting, I think, what the people in those communities feel. This deep feeling of discouragement, anxiety. And in fact, what they want right now is hope. “
Starmer says people are so confused by U-turns and a lack of leadership that they ask him what the government’s strategy is. “The prime minister is ruling in hindsight. So you charge forward, not acknowledging the problem, you have a car accident, you look in your rearview mirror and you say ‘what is that all about?’ ”.
His comments mark a new low in attempts to build any form of cross-party consensus on the pandemic, and follow criticism from some on the left that Starmer has let Johnson go too lightly.
They come after a week in which the prime minister had to apologize for not understanding the restrictions he had just announced in parts of northern England. Once again, he appeared unsure of the rules in a series of failed television interviews with regional news shows on Friday night.
Starmer’s assault on the prime minister comes as 42 other people who tested positive for coronavirus were reported to have died in hospitals in England.
Starmer, speaking before the Conservative party virtual conference, which opened on Saturday, demanded that the government pursue a five-point plan to combat Covid-19 that would involve:
• following the German government by publishing the criteria it uses to inform people when local restrictions are introduced and removed
• improve public health messages by expanding the NHS Covid-19 app so that people can type in their zip code and get information about restrictions in their area
• fix the test, trace and isolation system by investing in NHS and university laboratories to expand testing, and putting local public health teams in charge of contact tracing in their areas
• Ensure regular routine testing for high risk workplaces and high transmission areas with results within 24 hours to improve infection control, including NHS staff and caregivers.
• outline a program to ensure the manufacture and distribution of any vaccine that is approved
When asked if he thinks a plan for mass vaccination is being worked on, he replies: “No. Well, they need to have one. Almost everything they have done so far, they have been completely slow and incompetent. “
On his strategy to make Labor eligible after four successive defeats in the general election, Starmer says the first phase of his leadership, after replacing Jeremy Corbyn in April, was to recognize the scale of the task facing Labor. Labor by building trust and showing that it is now under decisive and different leadership.
While he says the task of regaining confidence is far from complete and that Labor still has a “mountain to climb”, he makes clear that he is now about to embark on “phase two” of his leadership, laying out a vision. broad of how you want the country to change and a set of core values that will determine Labor direction.
Stepping away from Corbyn, he says safety, family and patriotism will be at the center of that vision and will be the key to making Britain “the best place to grow up and the best place to grow old.”
He says he will keep the 10 promises he made during his leadership campaign, many of which were based on ideas promoted by Corbyn. But, pointing to the need for flexibility, he notes that the pandemic has created new challenges, which will inevitably influence labor policies in the upcoming general elections.
When asked why he didn’t mention Corbyn by name in his recent conference speech, he was unapologetic and made it clear that the move was deliberate. “I appointed three Labor leaders. Three that won. That is why I named them. I didn’t name anyone else. “
He downplays complaints from some in the party that he has kept his team in the shadow of the cabinet under too strict a leash and insists the public will hear more from them from now on.
