By Ben Kerrigan-
Labour leader Keir Starmer has demanded the Covid inquiry release findings by the end of the year amid fresh implicating revelations about former Health Secretary Matt Hancock over his pandemic response.
Mr Hancock was today exposed after it emerged he rejected advice from one of England’s health chiefs at the start of the pandemic over testing people going into care homes.
Mr Hancock faces allegations in The Daily Telegraph, which obtained more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages between him, ministers and officials, that he had not followed the advice of England’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty. Mr Hancock furiously rejected the claims.
His spokesman claimed without evidence, that the messages were doctored.
At Prime Minister’s Question’s on Wednesday, Mr Starmer said the messages were an “insulting and ghoulish spectacle” for families across the country who have lost loved ones.
The country “deserves better” he said, criticising the cost of the Covid inquiry so far.
Rishi Sunak insisted the coronavirus inquiry was the “right way” to investigate the Government’s handling of the pandemic, rather than relying on “piecemeal bits of information”.
The pandemic was riddled with controversy throughout its duration, with severe allegations of exaggerated numbers of hospitalisations, inadequate testing, insufficient testing, and most importantly, partygate, which signalled an underestimation of the seriousness of the virus itself.
Mr Starmer had earlier attacked Mr Sunak over the “shocking state” the Tories had left the country in during cost of living crisis.
Following PMQs, health minister Helen Whately faced an urgent question from Labour on testing of care home residents during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She told MPs the “importance of testing was never in doubt” but added “tough decisions about prioritisation had to be made”.
Helen Whately said context is “absolutely important” when looking at Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages and “it’s disappointing to see an attempt to play politics with this issue”.
The Social Care Minister admitted she was “concerned that families were able to see loved ones in care homes” and therefore allowed visits to care homes during the pandemic, when other countries banned it to prevent the spread of Covid.
She said she tried to “get the right balance”. She said her decisions will be part of discussions in the Covid inquiry.