Keir Starmer – 2020 Comments on Social Care

Text of the comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 16 July 2020.

The Government’s failure to protect our care homes at the start of the pandemic was a national shame. I pay tribute to care staff who did everything they could but were left without tests or protective equipment.

An independent inquiry was always inevitable. But the Prime Minister must now guarantee that social care will be a key area of focus for that inquiry.

We also need action now ahead of a possible second wave this winter. We need to get to the bottom of what happened in care homes so that lessons can be learned, and lives can be saved. We cannot afford for the same mistakes to be made again.