Prime minister Boris Johnson has failed to deny that as many as 3.5m people a week will be forced into self-isolation by his decision to scrap all coronavirus restrictions on 19 July.
Mr Johnson was pressed repeatedly in the House of Commons to spell out forecasts of deaths, hospitalisations and self-isolation orders, after health secretary Sajid Javid said that Covid-19 infections were set to soar to 100,000 a day following the end of mandatory face-masks and social distancing.
Accusing the PM of a “reckless” approach which would deliver a “summer of chaos and confusion”, Sir Keir Starmer told MPs: “It won’t feel like Freedom Day for those who are having to isolate.”
And he warned that Mr Johnson’s approach would undermine the Track and Trace system, as people delete the NHS app in order to avoid being “pinged” after coming into contact with infected people.
In fiery exchanges, Mr Johnson was twice rebuked by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as he dodged the question and tried to turn the debate onto what he claimed was Labour failure to spell out its own plans.
Speaking during his weekly grilling at prime minister’s questions in the Commons, Mr Johnson claimed that it was “prudent” to go ahead with a big-bang removal of coronavirus restrictions in 12 days’ time because scientific evidence showed that vaccines had “severed the link” between infection and serious illness or death.
But Starmer retorted that the link had in fact been “weakened, but it hasn’t been broken”, meaning that the surge in infections following 19 July is likely to push up hospitalisations, deaths and cases of long Covid as well as increasing the risk of dangerous new mutations.
The Labour leader said that the relaxations were being introduced at a time when cases in the UK were soaring “because the prime minister let the Delta variant – and we can call it the Johnson variant – into the country”.
Citing estimates that between 2-3.5m people a week could be forced into self-isolation over the summer, Sir Keir asked: “Is the prime minister really comfortable with a plan that means 100,000 people catching this virus, every day, and everything that that entails?”
He accused the PM of trying to “wish away” the practical problems caused to families and businesses by the expected surge in infections as the summer holidays begin.
“He’s ignoring the next big problem that’s heading down the tracks which is going to affect millions of people who have to self isolate,” said the Labour leader.
“It won’t feel like Freedom Day to those who have to isolate, when they’re having to cancel their holidays, when they can’t go to the pub or even to their kids’ sports day.
“And it won’t feel like Freedom Day to the businesses who are already warning of carnage because of the loss of staff and customers.”
Starmer said it was “obvious” that Johnson’s plan risks undermining the multi-billion pound Track and Trace system, with reports suggesting that many people are already deleting the NHS app.
“They’re doing it because they can see what is coming down the track,” said the Labour leader. “Of course, we don’t support that, but under his plan it’s entirely predictable.
“What is the prime minister going to do to stop people deleting the NHS app because they can see precisely what he can’t see, which is that millions of people are going to be pinged this summer to self-isolate?”
Mr Johnson made no attempt to deny forecasts of millions of people going into self-isolation over the summer.
Instead, he demanded to know which of the new freedoms scheduled for 19 July – including reopening all businesses including nightclubs, lifting attendance limits at mass events, removing work-from-home instructions and abolishing legal requirements to wear masks and maintain social distancing – Labour would reverse.
He told MPs that his approach, unveiled on Monday, was “cautiously prudent, moving from a legal diktat to allowing people to take personal responsibility for their actions”.
Sir Keir responded that Labour wanted to “open in a controlled way and keep baseline protections that could keep down infections, like mandatory face masks on public transport”.
The Labour leader said the PM’s decision was driven not by public health and safety but by Matt Hancock’s forced resignation as health secretary and by pressure from anti-lockdown MPs on the Tory benches.
“He’s doing what he always does,” Starmer told MPs. “Crashing over to the other side of the aisle, chasing headlines and coming up with a plan that hasn’t been thought through.
“We all want restrictions lifted. We want our economy open. We want to get back to normal. But we’ve been here too many times before.
“Isn’t it the case that once again, instead of a careful controlled approach, we’re heading for a summer of chaos and confusion?”
Mr Johnson rejected the allegation, and insisted that the decision to reopen had been taken in a “balanced and cautious” way.
Pointing at Starmer, he told MPs: “If we listened to him, we would not now be proceeding – cautiously, pragmatically, sensibly – to reopen our society and our economy and give people back the chance to enjoy the freedoms they love.”
In an attempt to revive his earlier “we vaccinate, they vacillate” slogan, the PM concluded the clash with the jibe at Labour: “We inoculate, they are invertebrate.”
