Responding to claims from the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, that the Government has gone well past its goal of 100,000 tests a day to combat coronavirus, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:
The Health Secretary’s arbitrary target of 100,000 tests by the end of April was always a hostage to fortune, and the truth is, he missed it. It’s extremely disappointing the Government have decided to massage the metrics rather than admit they fell short, as this will only undermine public confidence.
Everyone wants the country to succeed in beating this awful disease but the British public won’t be so easily fooled by manipulation. It’s deeply regrettable but we’re still miles off the large-scale testing programme that will be an essential part of any plan to ease out of lockdown through a test, trace and isolate approach.
Liberal Democrats have long-called for the Government to be frank about what is and is not achievable, to ensure transparency and maintain public trust, but Ministers continue to play fast and loose with the truth.
The Health Service Journal revealed today how the Government changed the rules to make it look as if they had hit their arbitrary 100,000 tests.
And on Question Time on Thursday 30 April, Nobel prize winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse described the 100,000 test commitment as ‘a bit of a PR stunt’.