Boris Johnson has been accused of blaming the British people for chaos in the coronavirus testing system after he said a “colossal spike” in demand was causing delays.
At prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons, Mr Johnson insisted that the UK was testing more people than any other country in Europe, but urged families to comply with guidance about when to get a test to help the system deal with “a huge, huge surge” in requests.
But Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner challenged his assertion that 240,000 tests are being conducted a day, pointing to leaked documents which suggested at the weekend that the true number of people tested daily was around 62,000.
She took a swipe at the PM’s top adviser Dominic Cummings as she raised cases of people being told to travel hundreds of miles to get tested, telling MPs: “The next time a man with Covid symptoms drives from London to Durham, it’ll probably be for the nearest Covid test.”
Ms Rayner was standing in for the first time at PMQs for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who was freed from self-isolation shortly before the Commons clash as one of his children got a negative coronavirus test result.
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Starmer has said that his child got a test quickly after showing symptoms on Monday only because his wife works in the NHS.
And Ms Rayner said she had a message for the PM from “a man called Keir”: “Keir wasn’t able to go to work today, and his children couldn’t go to school because his family had to wait for their coronavirus test results, despite the prime minister promising results within 24 hours.”
Responding to Mr Johnson’s claim that difficulties in the testing system were caused by a spike in demand, Ms Rayner said: “Once again we see that the prime minister says it’s somebody else’s fault, that it’s the public that are using up the tests.”
And she added: “Infections are rising and the testing system is collapsing.
“When you are the prime minister, you can’t keep trying to blame other people for your own incompetence.
“We have the highest death toll in Europe and we are on course for one of the worst recessions in the developed world.
“This winter we are staring down the barrel of a second wave with no plan for the looming crisis.”
Ms Rayner challenged the government’s decision to exempt grouse shooting from the “rule of six” law restricting public gatherings, which she said would be good news for grouse moor owner David Ross, who gave the PM a holiday on the Caribbean island of Mustique over the New Year.
“People can’t say goodbye to their loved ones grandparents can’t see their grandchildren and frontline staff can’t get the tests that they need,” said the Labour deputy leader.
“And what was the top priority for the Covid war cabinet, this weekend? Restoring grouse shooting.”
Mr Johnson defended the government’s record and accused Labour of raising “tangential scare stories” over the coronavirus effort.
“We have delivered on the most thoroughgoing testing regime anywhere in Europe and … the number of tests, per day conducted has gone up from 210,000 last week to 240,000 this week,” he said.
“Per 1,000 people, this country is testing 2.54, Germany 1.88, Spain 1.91 and France 1.89. In other words, we are delivering exactly what we said we would do.
“What is happening is that the British people, quite understandably, are responding to that system with a huge, huge surge in demand. And so it’s very important that everybody follows the guidance about when they should be getting a test.”
Mr Johnson said that there had been “a colossal spike” in requests in the past few days, and insisted that the coronavirus testing programme was being “massively accelerated” in response.
In the last two weeks alone, the capacity of the system had been increased by 10 per cent, with the establishment of four new labs and the target of 500,000 tests a day by the end of October, said the PM.
And he said: “I don’t think anybody is in any doubt that this government is facing some of the most difficult dilemmas that any modern government has had to face.
“But every day, we are helping to solve them, thanks to the massive common sense of the British people, who are getting on with delivering our programme, getting on with delivering our fight against coronavirus.
“And it’s with the common sense of the British people that we will we will succeed and build back better and stronger than ever before.”
