Starmer urges renewed focus on the UK’s test and trace programme

There were so many stunning moments in Boris Johnson’s liaison committee appearance last night, it’s difficult to choose which one to explore first. I think the most shocking was perhaps when the Prime Minister appeared to reveal that he had never before heard of the ‘no recourse to public funds’ policy. To watch the head of government literally reply, “Hang on… Why aren’t they eligible for Universal Credit or Employment Support Allowance or any of the other…?” was just too much like a comedy sketch. He is beyond parody.

The good news is that the Prime Minister didn’t like what he heard when he was told about the punitive immigration policy that drives families and particularly migrant women into destitution. Apparently unaware that the use of ‘NRPF’ was extended by his predecessor, Johnson told Labour MP Stephen Timms that he had “raised a very, very important point” and promised to “see what we can do to help”. Obviously activists cannot take that on trust, but the blunder should be used by Labour to apply pressure on this issue. For other priorities in the struggle for migrant rights, read Sabrina Huck’s latest column.

As part of an effort to “move on” from the Dominic Cummings story, the Prime Minister also announced the launch of the UK’s test and trace programme. Because the government has rushed to reopen schools on June 1st and shops in mid-June, and previously vowed to have the scheme up and running before then, there are concerns that this has been a belated but also rushed job. This goes some way to explaining why Keir Starmer seems to agree with the PM that it is “time to move on” from Cummings. Unlike Johnson, he is clear that the adviser broke lockdown rules, but he backs the call to refocus on the task at hand.

The Labour leader has pointed out that we were promised a tracing app, but the government has delayed it indefinitely, despite claiming that its trial went well. Starmer is also demanding that over 50,000 contact tracers are hired, and that testing be increased to a quarter of a million a day. Matt Hancock has said that testing capacity has reached 161,000, but actual tests carried out are below that and they have stopped providing the numbers of people tested. Finally, Starmer wants a “Covid test guarantee” ensuring that nobody waits more than 24 hours for a result. When asked by the committee about this target, however, Johnson said: “I’ve been forbidden from announcing any more targets and deadlines.” If only the UK didn’t have the highest excess death rate in the world during the pandemic, perhaps we’d find it funny.