Yesterday in parliament the Coronavirus Bill was debated.
It is right that at this time of National emergency, all political parties should try to work cooperatively towards tackling the crisis.
Equally scrutiny of legislation is a key part of parliamentary democracy.
This Bill in particular gives the government powers that have never before been seen in the United Kingdom even in wartime.
In order to respect the Social distancing protocols that are required to keep the public safe, only a very few members of parliament were actually designated to participate in the debate. This meant that I was not able to be in the debate itself. However, I was able to make a positive input by the shaping of a number of critical amendments to the Bill and by framing the Labour Party approach in the Shadow Cabinet which has been meeting remotely through video conferencing. I set out here my views on the Bill and the government’s handling of the crisis.
There were several key areas where I believe the government had failed to get things right and needed to do more:
Personal Protective Equipment
The failure to provide adequate PPE to our front line NHS and Care staff is simply unacceptable. Those who are putting their own lives most at risk by caring for those with the virus do not yet have adequate masks and visors that conform with the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. The government failed to order these in good time even though we knew that these were critical equipment in Wu Han Province by the end of January.
Testing
I am concerned that the government has still not purchased enough test kits and is not utilising those it has to test the right people. The WHO said that its key message was “Test, Test, Test” because it is simply not possible to fight the virus blindfolded. I said over two weeks ago that I believed primary carers and first responders should be tested regularly. Without such tests we cannot know if they are acting as super-spreaders of the virus and actually endangering the very people they are treating and caring for. Thereafter, I said that testing of those who are symptomatic is vital for three reasons: to encourage those who are doing the right thing and self-isolating, that they are not staying at home losing income for no reason; to ensure that epidemiologists get a clear sight of the development of the disease; and so that effective tracing of all those who have come into contact with the disease can be done quickly in order to isolate those who are infected but not yet symptomatic. Using tests only for patients in hospital who are already showing very serious symptoms does not seem sensible. Such people need treatment not diagnosis. It is also unacceptable that the government has not insisted that it buy up all the tests that are currently available but has allowed those who can afford to pay hundreds of pounds to secure private tests regardless of whether these people have any medical need or priority.
Provision for the Self Employed
I have applauded a number of the financial measures that the chancellor has put in place. Labour had advocated a Danish style scheme and I welcomed the move by the government eventually to pay 80% of the wages for any worker that was stood down or furloughed as a result of Covid-19. However the lack of proper provision for the self employed is disgraceful. There are 20,500 self-employed people in Brent North and many are desperately worried about making their rent, mortgage and other bill payments. They have seen the retention scheme and other measures announced for employees and I have received scores of letters asking me what help is going to be put in place for them when they are being told they cannot continue their work. I wrote to the Chancellor to ask that comparable support is put in place for the self-employed as this would send a clear message to all self-employed and freelancers that they have the financial support they need, and can take the right decision to stay at home, protect themselves and protect the public.
The Level of Statutory Sick Pay
If we are asking people forego their income to self-isolate and the only financial support they receive is Statutory Sick Pay(SSP), then we cannot be surprised if they are reluctant to do so for £94.25 a week – which even the Health Secretary himself said he could not possibly live on. In fact as the graph below shows, our levels of Statutory Sick Pay are the second lowest in Europe. Other countries have radically increased SSP in response to the Covid Pandemic and I believe that the government here should do the same.
