Covid-19

Andrew Selous Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We grieve for what has happened in black and minority ethnic communities. The hon. Lady is right in what she says about the Bangladeshi community. We will do everything we can to get all the groups in our country that need testing the testing they deserve as fast as we possibly can. All I can tell her is that we have hugely expanded our testing capacity. There is a hierarchy of need, of priority groups, which she will have seen. We will do everything we can to ensure that black and minority ethnic groups get the support and protections they need, in addition to the measures that we have already taken, which I outlined earlier.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Constituents who have spent a lifetime in public service wrote to me over the weekend saying, “We are on the point of giving up”. Churchill said he had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat, but Jeremiah 29 talks about giving us hope and a future. What can the Prime Minister say to people to give them hope over the next six months as we deal with this dismal pandemic?

[The Prime Minister]

I think we have every hope. You cut me off, Mr Speaker, when I was going to answer an earlier question—quite properly. The answer is that we have every chance, if we follow this package of measures, of driving the R down, keeping our economy moving and keeping education going. Science is helping us every day. Dexamethasone, trialled in this country, is now reducing the number of deaths. We have the prospect of a vaccine. All the medical guidance I have is that, by next spring, things will be vastly improved. I do not deny for a minute that things are going to be tough for our country and our people for months to come, but we will get through it, and we will get through it well, particularly if we follow the package that we announced today.