UK coronavirus lockdown: Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pushes for exit strategy
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for transparency over when UK coronavirus lockdown measures will ease, as the government faces pressure over its care homes strategy.
Starmer’s party will back the government’s likely extension of the coronavirus lockdown tomorrow. But he has said “there needs to be transparency” over how long the measures will last.
“”We’ve got to have the trust of the public,” Starmer told BBC Radio 4’s Today show today. He added it was “inevitable that the lockdown will have to continue”.
“For that trust there needs to be transparency and openness – they need to know what the thinking is on when lockdown will end.”
He also called out Boris Johnson’s government for a lack of speedy planning, saying “let’s not repeat that”.
“Mass testing and then tracing is likely to be amongst the options for ending the lockdown,” Starmer said.
“If that is right we need the government to say so,” he added. “Decisions need to be taken now to make sure that the number of tests that are needed and that the arrangements are in place so they can be implemented at the relevant time.”
Schools should be among the first wave of reopenings, Starmer said, once the UK coronavirus lockdown is relaxed.
But he told BBC Breakfast that the UK government could not ease lockdown until the number of coronavirus infections begins to drop.
“Until we know the curve is flattening, then I’m afraid we have to stay in the conditions we’re in,” he said.
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Government under pressure over care homes testing
Starmer’s comments came as the government pledged to address a lack of testing in care homes.
Social care staff and patients in care homes across the UK will receive coronavirus tests as the government ramps up its laboratory capacity, the health secretary said today.
Matt Hancock vowed to ensure everybody who requires a test will receive one, saying he was “determined” to deliver.
He called testing a “key” part of the government’s strategy to curb the spread of coronavirus.
While Labour welcomed the pledge, it called for the government to do more to protect vulnerable people and staff in care homes.
Charity bosses have said coronavirus is “running wild” inside care homes, amid claims the government has failed to protect the social care sector.
There are reports of coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2,000 care homes. And currently only the first five residents with coronavirus symptoms are tested to determine whether there has been an outbreak.
Meanwhile, official coronavirus death figures only count deaths in hospital from the virus.
Speaking today, Hancock said: “I am deeply conscious that people in residential care are among the most vulnerable to coronavirus.
“We are doing everything we can to keep workers, residents and their families safe.
“We have already begun testing social care workers and will roll this out nationwide over the coming days.
“And as we continue to ramp up our testing programme, we will test all current care home residents with coronavirus symptoms and all new care home residents who are discharged from hospital into care.”
The Care Quality Commission hopes to have contacted 30,000 care providers by the end of the week. But Labour’s social care shadow minister, Liz Kendall, has said only 500 care home staff have been tested so far.