Extract from Lords repeat of Commons statement on Covid-19 Update - June 15
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 08:38
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care (Lord Bethell) (Con):...We have also invested
enormously in the control of our borders. Through both its red list
and its amber list, the managed quarantine service has done an
enormous amount to stop the transmission of new variants into this
country. I pay a huge amount of tribute to Border Force and those
in MQS, who have done a terrific job of bringing in this completely
new infrastructure and this service...Request free trial
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of
Health and Social Care ()
(Con):...We have also invested enormously in the control of
our borders. Through both its red list and its amber list, the
managed quarantine service has done an enormous amount to stop the
transmission of new variants into this country. I pay a huge amount
of tribute to Border Force and those in MQS, who have done a
terrific job of bringing in this completely new infrastructure and
this service that has done a huge amount to keep out
variants—including the Manaus variant, the South Africa variant and others—through
the red-listing process...
(Lab) [V]: My Lords, very
bluntly, we are facing this unpalatable Statement today because of
the Prime Minister’s inability to take decisions. The Government
learned of the arrival of the Indian variant as early as 25 March,
yet took no action for 30 days, allowing 20,000 people to enter the
UK. The result is that they put the public’s health at risk. As a
consequence, we now face a further four weeks of restrictions, with
accompanying hardships. Have the Government learned their
lesson?
(Con):
My Lords, I am not sure whether I accept the characterisation
presented by the noble Lord. We have worked incredibly hard to
bring in a managed quarantine system that is a novel, new
introduction into the UK. We have done extremely well in fighting
off many of the variants that have come to our shores, including
the Manaus variant, the South African variant and
others. We have strong links with Pakistan, India and Bangladesh,
which means there is a lot of traffic between our countries. I am
not sure whether it would ever have been possible to prevent this
variant making landfall in the UK at some point. But we have done
an enormous amount in the UK to delay and prevent the arrival of
these variants, and for that I am enormously grateful to those
involved...
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