Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has written to the Home
Secretary calling for the Government to publish the full SAGE
minutes relating to Ministerial decisions on quarantine and all of
the related scientific data as per the Motion which was passed in
the House of Commons on 1 February 2021.
The letter also requests that the Home Secretary come to the
House of Commons urgently, to update Members on why “vital
warnings have not been heeded” on SAGE advice that planned border
would not be sufficient to prevent emerging strains of the Covid
virus entering the UK and spreading.
The letter also criticises Ministers for failing to disclose this
guidance in Parliament, either during an Urgent Question on 26
January, a Statement to the House of Commons on 27 January or
during an Opposition Day on 1 February.
Ends
Notes to editors
Full text of letter:
Dear Priti,
I write in relation to further worrying revelations that the
Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) advised UK
Government that “geographically targeted travel bans” would not
be sufficient to prevent emerging strains of the Covid virus
entering the UK and spreading.
These are deeply worrying revelations and I am concerned that you
chose not to make this information public, including during the
Urgent Question we asked on this issue on 26 January, at least
five days after SAGE gave their advice, and the Statement you
gave to the House of Commons on 27 January.
During those debates, I clearly set out Labour’s position that
Government quarantine proposals do not go far enough, and SAGE
would appear at to confirm the importance of this warning.
The worrying evidence of an outbreak of the South African strain
of the virus in recent days makes clear that the quarantine
measures in place do not work. This is particularly concerning as
we have no way of knowing where new strains of the virus might
emerge from, until it is too late.
On a matter of such importance it cannot be right that the UK
Government is failing to be open with the British public and make
all relevant information available. As a result, I am calling on
you to publish the full SAGE minutes relating to Ministerial
decisions on quarantine and all of the related scientific data as
per the Motion that was passed yesterday in the House.
Additionally, the reported SAGE minutes outline that “No
intervention, other than a complete, pre-emptive closure of
borders, or the mandatory quarantine of all visitors upon arrival
in designated facilities, irrespective of testing history, can
get close to fully preventing the importation of new cases or new
variants.” Can you confirm if you had access to the minutes prior
to appearing in the House of Commons on the 26 January, and if
not, at what point were you informed of SAGEs advice?
Can you also confirm that even the limited plans for quarantine
that have been outlined - relating to just 33 counties on a “red
list” - are not due to be implemented until 15 February as
speculated?
It is now over a year since the first case of Covid was detected
in the UK so it is unacceptable to suggest that the Government
has not had time to put the necessary measures in place.
You will also be aware that the House of Commons has now passed a
clear Motion showing support of Labour’s position that there must
now be a comprehensive hotel quarantine.
As a result of this motion and the revelations regarding the
clear risk of insufficient action by the UK Government on border
security, I ask that you come to the House of Commons urgently,
to update Members and answer questions on why these vital
warnings have not been heeded.
Throughout this pandemic the Government has continually failed to
learn the lesson that not taking decisive, early action makes the
virus even more difficult to contain.
This is particularly true of failure to act on border security,
which is an Achilles heel in our defences against Covid.
Everything possible must be done to guard against the prospect of
a new strain of this virus reaching the UK, which might be
resistant to the vaccine, undermining the progress of the rollout
and the extraordinary efforts of the British people.
We must now act decisively to introduce a comprehensive hotel
quarantine policy, to minimise these risks.
I look forward to seeing the SAGE minutes published and you
coming to the House of Commons, to hopefully announce a
desperately-needed change in policy.
Shadow Home Secretary
