Starmer criticises “half-baked” plan as PM announces end to Covid restrictions

Keir Starmer has criticised Boris Johnson for unveiling what he called a “half-baked announcement” after the Prime Minister confirmed that all legal restrictions designed to combat Covid in England will be lifted this week.

Responding to a statement from Johnson in parliament this afternoon, the Labour leader argued that the Prime Minister is “taking away the tools” that would help people “continue to act responsibly” by ensuring they do not transmit Covid.

The Prime Minister told MPs this afternoon that the government could now deal with the virus “in a very different way”, putting the emphasis on “personal responsibility” rather than relying on legal restrictions issued by the government.

He confirmed that all public health Covid laws in England – including the requirement to isolate following a positive test – will be removed from February 24th and the government will be ending Covid isolation support payments.

Starmer called on Johnson to publish scientific evidence supporting the decision to remove the requirement for people to self-isolate after a positive test, as well as evidence concerning the impact on the clinically vulnerable “for whom lockdown has never ended”.

Johnson announced that universal access to free lateral flow and PCR tests will end on April 1st. He said access to free testing will continue for older people, and the government will ensure “everyone who wants to can buy a test”.

Starmer said: “The British people will continue to act responsibly and they will do the right thing: testing and then isolating if positive. What I can’t understand is why the Prime Minister is taking away the tools that will help them to do that.

“Free tests can’t continue forever – but, if you’re 2-1 up with ten minutes to go, you don’t sub-off one of your best defenders.”

The Prime Minister also told parliament that the NHS test and trace system will be wound down, stressing its cost to the public purse. The isolation advice for close contacts of people who have tested positive with the virus will be scrapped.

Routine contact tracing will end. Vaccinated people will no longer be required to test daily for seven days if they come into contact with a person infected with the virus, nor will unvaccinated people have to quarantine.

“We can’t turn off Britain’s radar before the war is won. Ignorance is bliss is not a responsible approach to a deadly virus. It actually risks undoing all the hard-won progress the British people have achieved over the last two years,” the Labour leader told Johnson this afternoon.

“There is no doubt we need to move on from Covid. People need to know their liberties are returning and returning for good. But this is a half-baked announcement from a government paralysed by chaos and incompetence. It is not a plan to live well with Covid.”

The announcement followed confusion after the cabinet meeting in which ministers were supposed to approve the plan was delayed this morning amid a last-minute funding dispute. It is thought the disagreement was over how to pay for the plan, with the Department of Health putting forward requests that had to be costed.

Professor Robert West, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights group on Behaviours (Spi-B), said that government had chosen to “abdicate its own responsibility for looking after its population” with the move to lift legal restrictions.

“It looks as though what the government has said is that it accepts that the country is going to have to live with somewhere between 20,000 and 80,000 Covid deaths a year and isn’t really going to do anything about it,” he said this morning.

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea described scrapping free testing as a “foolish move” and argued “the government has taken leave of its senses”, warning: “Most people will simply stop testing because they can’t afford to check.”

The Prime Minister insisted that while workers will no longer be able to rely on the Covid isolation payment of £500, they will be able to claim statutory sick pay. The TUC has highlighted that this will mean people are forced to wait until the fourth day out of work to receive any support.

“The government is creating needless hardship and taking a sledgehammer to public health. The failure to provide decent sick pay to all – from the first day of illness – is reckless and self-defeating,” general secretary Frances O’Grady said.

“If people can’t afford to stay home when they’re sick, they will take their infections into work. Ministers’ inability to grasp this fact will leave the UK vulnerable to future variants and pandemics.”