Jonathan Ashworth – 2020 Comments on the Government’s Track and Trace Scheme

Comments made by Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 4 August 2020.

For months Labour has warned ministers that, without a vaccine, an effective locally delivered test, trace and isolate regime would be critical to safe easing from lockdown.

Instead Boris Johnson is handing multi-million pound contacts to firms like Serco and claiming his approach is ‘world beating’ when it is far from that and showing no signs of improvement. He should be honest with the public about his government’s failings.

Given infection rates are rising and some areas have had restrictions tightened, it is no wonder local authorities are abandoning Johnson’s failed approach and setting up their own systems. Local Directors of Public Health, primary care and NHS labs were always better placed to do this vital work effectively and should be given the resources and data to get on with it.