Labour calls on UK Government to ramp up support as India’s second wave becomes a ‘global emergency’

Labour has today called on the Government to step up efforts to support India as the domestic crisis becomes “a global emergency”.

Shadow Foreign Secretary, Lisa Nandy MP, used an Urgent Question to press the Government to provide additional support to the Indian authorities as they battle against rapidly rising infection rates. Citing her own Indian heritage, the Shadow Foreign Secretary said:

“For many of us in Britain, our ties to India are personal. My father came to this country from India, and being half Indian is an important part of who I am. Family ties between our countries are woven into the fabric of this nation. For the more than one million British Indians of different generations, this is a moment of fear and anxiety.”

Nandy called for UK expertise in genome sequencing and epidemiology to be made available to the Indian government, as well as surplus medical supplies including oxygen, ventilators and therapeutic medicines.

Lisa Nandy MP, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, in response to the Urgent Question on UK support to India, said:

Mr Speaker, India is in a Covid crisis of unprecedented proportions.

We will all have seen the haunting footage of families pleading with doctors to treat their loved ones or queueing to cremate their dead.

In the last 24 hours, India has once more reported the world’s largest single day total, with more than 360,000 new confirmed cases and more than 3,000 deaths. There have been more than two million cases confirmed in the last week. India now makes up around 40 per cent of all the new cases in the world and experts believe this is almost certainly an underestimate. The peak of this crisis may yet be weeks away.

This is not just a heart-breaking crisis for India, it is global emergency that has consequences for all of us. We all face the same disease. We are all in this together. We are in a global race between vaccines and variants. No one is safe until we are all safe.

Mr Speaker, for many of us in Britain, our ties to India are personal. My father came to this country from India, and being half Indian is an important part of who I am. Family ties between our countries are woven into the fabric of this nation. For the more than one million British Indians of different generations, this is a moment of fear and anxiety. So many British Indians will have gone to work today in the NHS, to which they make such a remarkable contribution. They have helped to carry this country through this crisis. Today many will be worried for loved ones, family and friends in India.

Mr Speaker, just over a year ago, when the UK was facing one of our darkest moments in this pandemic, the Government of India sent 3,000,000 packets of paracetamol to the UK to meet our needs. That was an act of solidarity and support. It is now our turn to help the people of India in this hour of need.

I’m grateful to the Foreign Secretary for outlining what support the government has already provided.

I believe we can and must do more. I would be grateful if the Foreign Secretary could assure me the government is exploring all avenues available in the following areas:

• First, Medical supplies: including oxygen, but also empty cannisters and cylinders, oxygen concentrators, ventilators; and surplus therapeutic medicine like remdesivir {rem DEZI veer];
• Second, Genomic sequencing and epidemiology: utilising the UK’s world leading capacity in genomic sequence to track potential further mutations and variants in the Indian outbreak.
• Third, Vaccines: we need a much greater effort to ensure we ramp up production and manufacturing capacity and overcome barriers to expanding supply, the greatest challenge we face.
• Fourth, coordination – working with the government of India but also partners in North America and Europe to ensure our contributions have the greatest effect;

Mr Speaker, this is a time for solidarity and common cause with the people of India. I hope that today we can come together as a House and show that we are doing all we can.

Ends

Notes to editors:

Transcript of the Urgent Question in parliament on UK support to India:

The domestic tragedy engulfing India is now of such a scale that it constitutes a global emergency.

India is now afflicted with at least 40 per cent of all new cases in the world. More than 2m have been confirmed in the last week alone. The peak of this crisis may yet be weeks away.

This surely ought to be a priority for the Foreign Secretary who I would have expected to have made a statement to the House as the scale of this became clear over the last 10 days.

For more than one million Britons with loved ones in India, this is a moment of fear and anxiety. The ties between our countries are woven into the fabric of this nation, something that through my heritage I am personally and acutely aware of.

Many Britons of Indian origin will have gone to work today in our NHS and our care homes, helping to carry us through this crisis while desperately worried about loved ones in India.

We can and must do more. So, can he outline a clear plan to:

Ramp up the delivery of vital equipment. India is still badly short of oxygen, cylinders, concentrators, ventilators and therapeutic drugs, especially remdesivir.

He must coordinate with our global partners. I spoke to the EU ambassador this morning to discuss how we can avoid duplication – has the UK been part of discussions at the UN and with the WHO?

He needs a plan for increasing the production and manufacturing capacity for vaccines and to overcome barriers to expanding supply.

And I was surprised not to hear a commitment to make good on the Health Secretary’s promise to throw open our unique expertise to the world. We are world leaders in genomic sequencing and epidemiology: tracking mutations and variants would be a major contribution to India and to the world.

It is now almost a year ago to the day, when the UK was steeped in our own crisis, woefully unprepared for the pandemic, and forced to ask the world for help. It was India who stepped forward and approved the export of three million packets of paracetamol in an act of solidarity and friendship.

There are millions of people in India, around the world and in the UK for whom this is a test of the bond between our two nations.