The UK’s Telegraph reported that Home Secretary Priti Patel was grilled over response to coronavirus by a Home Affairs Select Committee, chaired by Yvette Cooper.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee to discuss the government’s response to coronavirus.
The Home Secretary was questioned by Chair Yvette Cooper over the government’s handling of covid-19, in particular the decision not to check or quarantine people coming into the UK.
Patel said that people were asked to self isolate in early March, and insisted that all advice is based on science.
She added that British citizens make up largest number of people travelling to the UK, and said that “inevitably” recommendations will change as we move into the next stage of coronavirus response.
Telegraph YouTube Channel
The UK Government line has been, for some time, that “science” has been guiding them, however, at some point, a Minister’s job is to intepret advice and make decisions. Specifically, this is called “leading,” or “leadership.”
Recognising that the initial response in Britain was not perfect would go some way to explaining why Britain yesterday announced the highest ever number of weekly deaths since the British Office of National Statistics (ONS) began collecting such records. It may be remembered by many that as the first British person died from Covid-19, in early March, Boris Johnson declared “business as usual,” despite medics in Italy at the time saying coronavirus was “worse than a bomb”.
‘Science’ without clear leadership is not enough. From Patel – and other British Ministers – it is little more than a word to hide behind.
