Stephen Doughty
Main Page: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)Department Debates - View all Stephen Doughty's debates with the Home Office
(4 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Priti Patel
This issue has been discussed extensively. When my hon. Friend see the exemption list, he will be very clear as to who qualifies and who does not.
Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)
As with care homes, I fear that the failure to act when it could have made a difference will be one of the great tragedies of this crisis when the inevitable inquiries follow. The Home Secretary keeps saying that she was following the science and that the science was consistent, but the chief scientific adviser to the Government said to the Health and Social Care Committee on 5 May that the UK got
“many, many different imports of virus”
that seeded right the way across the country as early as March. If that is the case, why did the Government let in 23.7 million passengers, many of whom were British returning from hotspots abroad between 1 January and 31 March? Why were measures not put in place earlier, and will she now not only publish the advice, but tell us whether it is true that SAGE first discussed this matter on 3 February? Was she involved in that discussion? Was the Transport Secretary involved? And who overruled whom about taking action?
Priti Patel
SAGE papers are being published and they are in the public domain, so the hon. Gentleman can look out for them and see what information has been put in place. I do come back to the point that I made earlier about the enhanced monitoring process that was taken at the border, all of which I highlighted in my opening remarks.