Show some unity in order to beat covid

Ashton and Failsworth MP Angela Rayner

Ashton and Failsworth MP Angela Rayner has urged Conservative MPs to ‘stop rewriting history’ as the fight against coronavirus continues.

Labour’s Deputy Leader said: “Health Secretary Matt Hancock is claiming the UK was locked down on March 16 even though we all know it wasn’t imposed until a week later on the 23rd.

"This steady stream of spin and confusion must stop.

“We must not allow the Tories to attempt to change or rewrite history on their shambolic handling wretched coronavirus.

"They can’t pull the wool over the eyes of the public – everybody knows that the government was too slow in their response to this crisis: too slow on lockdown, too slow on PPE and too slow on testing.

“We should all strive to fight this awful virus together.

“Trust me, l will work genuinely and cross-party with anybody to defeat this horrible virus but we have to be honest on failures and learn lessons so we can make the necessary changes and save lives in the present and in the future.

“Trying to alter timelines on actions is disrespectful to so many families who have suffered, it is offensive to our key workers and healthcare heroes who have put their lives on the line to get us through this crisis and demeans our collective attempts to defeat coronavirus.

“Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance says it’s 'absolutely clear’ the UK’s coronavirus outcome has not been good as he warns the virus will likely be around for ‘a number of years’ - that’s the real news, not Matt Hancock’s attempt to re-write history on the Government’s response.

“So instead of spin, deflection and trying to rewrite the history of what happened in the early days of coronavirus, the government must focus on learning lessons from their initial response so we can save lives now and in the future.”

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