Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Matt Hancock under pressure over PPE delivery

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Wednesday 22 April 2020 08:02 BST

Matt Hancock denies UK's failure to take part in EU PPE scheme was a 'political decision'

Psychologists say people are reporting more intense and anxious dreams than usual during the lockdown – reveries about flying bugs, tidal waves and Oprah Winfrey running around with a chainsaw. Matt Hancock hope a vaccine for the virus will eventually bring the nightmare to an end. The health secretary – whose head must be swimming at night with testing targets and PPE order numbers – has announced that the first human trials in the UK would begin this week. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus crisis.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

Keir Starmer will make his debut at PMQs as Labour leader, going up against foreign secretary Dominic Raab. They will be among the small number of MPs in the Commons chamber, while others ask questions via Zoom. Health secretary Matt Hancock is due to make a Commons statement, and will face tough questions on testing and personal protective equipment (PPE). Meanwhile, cabinet ministers Liz Truss, Oliver Dowden and Ben Wallace will all be quizzed via video conference by the select committees which monitor their departments.

Daily briefing

TO PPE OR NOT TO PPE: Matt Hancock said the government would “throw everything we’ve got” at developing a vaccine for coronavirus. The health secretary promised £42.5m for research at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford – where human trials begin on Thursday. But the encouraging news threatens to be overshadowed by PPE rows. According to The Guardian, the government has missed the chance to secure at least 16 million face masks in the past month. Hancock admitted there had been over 8,000 separate offers of PPE, but claimed not all companies could deliver “in scale”. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office’s permanent secretary Sir Simon McDonald issued a letter saying he had been incorrect to claim the UK’s failure to participate in the EU procurement scheme for ventilators and PPE was a “political decision”. Hancock said the UK had joined the scheme on an “associate” basis – insisting the decision not to join earlier had “zero” impact on getting supplies.

MIND THE GAP: Labour called the government response to companies offering PPE “shambolic”, saying they had been “inundated” with calls from companies who got no reply to offers. Leader Keir Starmer said something had “clearly gone wrong” in the supply of life-saving kit for the NHS, telling the BBC there was “an increasing gap” between ministers’ claims and the reality on the frontline. “This gap has to be closed as soon as possible,” he said. To make matters worse, The Telegraph reports this morning that some of the coronavirus tests given to NHS workers have been found to be flawed. A leaked Public Health England memo warns of “degraded” performance. Meanwhile, a study led by the National Covid Testing Scientific Advisory Panel found antibody home tests cannot currently be relied on to provide accurate results.

POST-PEAK LONDON: The concern about testing comes as another 823 deaths were reported at UK hospitals – a significant increase on the previous day. Attempting to sound a positive note, England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said admissions in London hospitals appeared to have peaked on 10 April and had fallen since then. But he added that there wasn’t evidence of a similar fall elsewhere in the country yet. Others are wondering what happens when the worst has passed. UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls told MPs pubs, hotels and restaurants could face a “bloodbath” as the lockdown is lifted (an unfortunate phrase, no doubt), with up to a third of the sector at risk of closing down. She called for urgent action to defer rent payments and extend the furlough scheme. Elsewhere, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) said “hero” supermarket workers deserve to get a minimum of £10 an hour.

GREEN CARD FREEZE: Donald Trump has revealed his latest immigration ban would last for 60 days and apply only to people seeking permanent residence, so won’t impact on temporary visas. The president claimed he was trying to “take care of” US workers. “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labour flown in from abroad.” The American Civil Liberties Union’s Andrea Flores said: “Xenophobia is not a public health response.” Meanwhile, the US state of Missouri has launched a lawsuit against China over the initial outbreak, alleging Chinese officials are “responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.”

TURNING BIBLICAL: The head of the United Nations’ food agency has warned that the world is “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could lead to famines of “biblical proportions”. World Food Programme (WFP) executive director David Beasley said analysis shows that as a result of the coronavirus an additional 130 million people “could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020”. More than 30 developing world nation could experience widespread famine. Citing the widespread financial woes caused by the outbreak, Beasley said “there is also a real danger that more people could potentially die from the economic impact of Covid-19 than from the virus itself”.

SHORT CIRCUIT: Singapore will extend its partial lockdown until 1 June after reporting a spikes in new coronavirus cases. The so-called “circuit breaker” means schools remain closed and all social gatherings are banned. Singapore reported 1,111 new cases on Tuesday, increasing its total to 9,125 – the most in southeast Asia. Overseas workers staying in crowded dormitories account for nearly 80 per cent of the infections, according to the authorities. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong has extended social distancing measures until 7 May. Chief executive Carrie Lam warned: “This is not the time to be complacent. If we relax, the good work we have done will be in vain.”

On the record

“What we’re seeing here is an increasing gap between what the government says or thinks is happening and what the frontline are telling us.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer on the shortage of PPE.

From the Twitterati

“Hancock looks rattled. He knows he won’t hit anywhere near his 100k-a-day tests by end of April. He knows PPE is still chronically short & health/care workers are dying in huge numbers. He knows Govt lied about EU joint procurement scheme.”

Piers Morgan on the under pressure health secretary...

“We lost the invitation to the EU PPE procurement scheme, said HMG originally. No, says Hancock today, I said yes to the scheme. Were we in the scheme or not? Was Hancock overruled? Who by?”

…while Labour peer Charlie Falconer thinks Hancock and his colleagues still have plenty of questions to answer.