Health Secretary Matt Hancock set himself a target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of April. Addressing the nation at the Government’s daily briefing from Downing Street on Friday, Mr Hancock confirmed the target had been met. Despite the achievement, Labour frontbencher Mr Ashworh took to the airwaves on Friday to attack the Government for not being honest about including home testing kits in the total.

Great Big Lockdown Survey: Tell us what life’s like for you by answering THESE questions!

Create your own survey at doopoll.co

Mr Ashworth’s intervention on talkRADIO sparked fury among listeners who questioned why the “deluded” Shadow minister had accused the Government of breaking its promises.

Addressing the testing target Mr Ashworth said: “It is good news that testing has increased. We have long called for more testing. By any stretch, it is a welcome achievement to have increased testing from where we were at the start of the month.

“I think what you alluded to in your question, though, was that it seems that when you look at these figures closely that far from carrying out 100,000 tests a day, which is what the promise was, it turns out that about 39,000 of these tests are home testing kits which are simply being put in the post.

“So we hope that those tests are done at home and returned. But it is not quite the same as being carried out. And I think ministers could have just said that today.”

The Shadow minister went on to accuse the Government of wanting to appear as though it had met its goal without being upfront with the public.

He said: “They obviously wanted to make it look like they had hit their 100,000 target.”

His comments sparked outrage among listeners, with one accusing the Shadow Health Secretary of “pathetic point-scoring”.

One Twitter user said: “It’s still a test. They have still been done.”

Someone else simply wrote: “Deluded.”

Another said: “So? The Government has sent them out, it is now up the individuals to use them. There is not much more they can do beyond that – and if they tried, they would be accused of being a nanny state.”

Someone else said: “Pathetic point-scoring. Don’t be a sour grape, Jon. Not the time to be political.”

And another said Mr Ashworth was proving why Labour didn’t win the 2019 election.

DON’T MISS
BBC’s Nick Robinson in brutal grilling of Jon Ashworth over PPE [VIDEO]
Labour’s Ashworth faces backlash after Government criticism unravels [REACTION]
The Starmer effect! Labour falls FURTHER behind Tories in voting poll [POLL]

They said: “Yet again today showing why the Labour Party lost the last election.”

Going on to give his suggestions for Mr Hancock, Mr Ashworth said the Government should look to recruit 50,000 contact tracers.

The process of contacting tracing involves tracking the movements of an infected person to see who they may have come into contact with and potentially spread the disease.

The method is a vital way of controlling an epidemic.

Raising the issue Mr Ashworh told talkRADIO: “I’ve got a few suggestions for Matt Hancock.

“He wants to recruit 18,000 contact tracers. I’d probably increase that to 50,000.”

He added: “I’d also do more around social care.”

Source: Read Full Article