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Labour is trying to force a Commons vote this evening on an amendment that would oblige the government to publish its internal review of what went wrong with the handling of the pandemic.
Downing Street confirmed that such a report exists at a lobby briefing last week, but it said the work was informal, and not for publication.
We need to learn lessons and prepare for the next stage.
This isn’t about scoring points or anything like that, it’s about being aware we have got this particular variant spreading in parts of the country.
At end add ‘but respectfully regret that the government has provided insufficient information for its proposals properly to be scrutinised; and therefore beg leave that she will be graciously pleased to give directions that the following papers be laid before parliament: the DHSC internal review of their operation during the pandemic as referenced by the prime minister’s official spokesman on 12 May.’
As Ben Glaze reports in the Daily Mirror, three flights from India landed at Heathrow yesterday morning – even though India is on the red list for travel. The red list rules do not stop Britons or others with residence rights from travelling from India to the UK, although they will be subject to hotel quarantine.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, says this report shows that border controls under the Conservatives are an “utter mess”.
The confusion over banned direct flights and the ‘red list’ of countries is yet another example of the utter mess the Conservatives have made of protecting our borders against #Covid, recklessly leaving the door open to dangerous variants.
