Keir Starmer has said the government’s delay in calling a second coronavirus lockdown in England will cost lives and singled out Rishi Sunak for blame, saying the UK chancellor’s “name is all over” the decision to reject earlier tough measures.
In a speech to the annual conference of the CBI, the Labour leader said that while it would be wrong to blame the government for Covid, “I do blame it for the way it’s been handled – and I can’t forgive the catalogue of mistakes that have cost lives and livelihoods.”
In the middle of last month, Starmer called for a two-week “circuit breaker” for England to curb the spread of the virus, and coinciding with the half-term holiday for schools.
It followed the publication of documents that showed that the government’s scientific advisers had called for such a lockdown in September. Ministers rejected this, but changed course on Friday after forecasts indicated that without further action the number of Covid deaths over the winter could significantly exceed those in the first peak.
Addressing the CBI – Boris Johnson had also been due to address the business organisation on Monday, but pulled out to focus on a Commons statement about the new plan – Starmer said that when the scientists recommended the circuit breaker, on 21 September, there were slightly more than 4,000 daily infections and 11 deaths.
“Forty days later, when [the PM] finally decided to announce a longer, four-week national lockdown, those figures had increased to 326 deaths a day, and 22,000 Covid cases. That is the human cost of the government’s inaction,” Starmer said.
In a direct attack on Sunak, he added: “The impact on business, and jobs, will be severe. Make no mistake, the chancellor’s name is all over this. His decision to block a circuit breaker, to dismiss it as a ‘blunt instrument’ and to pretend that you can protect the economy without controlling the virus will now mean that businesses have to close for longer, more people will lose their jobs, and the public finances will be worse than they needed to be.
“It makes me so angry and so frustrated that when the British people – and British businesses – have given so much and made so many sacrifices, they have been let down so badly by the government.”
Starmer said Sunak needed to also address parliament on Monday, to fully explain the package of support for businesses and employees during the new lockdown, which begins on Thursday and is due to last for four weeks.
He said: “One of the things I’ve learned from this crisis is that it exposes leadership like nothing else. On that count the prime minister and the chancellor have failed. They failed to learn. They failed to listen. And they failed to lead. The result is tragic – but all too predictable.”
The Labour leader also castigated Johnson for potentially failing to reach a full Brexit trade deal with the EU, bringing the possibility that the chaos of a winter Covid peak could be exacerbated by full departure on 31 December without a final deal.
“The prime minister said he would get one,” Starmer said. “In fact, he said he had one. So he should get on with it. Stop fuelling uncertainty at the worst possible time and secure the deal he promised.”