Sir Keir Starmer grills Boris Johnson at PMQs over virus testing, track & trace and voting shambles

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SIR Keir Starmer has grilled Boris Johnson at PMQs over the virus testing, track & trace and voting shambles.

The Labour leader tore into the Prime Minister today over his vow to have a “world-beating” system in place by the beginning of this month.

Labour leader Keir Starmer grilled the PM over his pledge for test and trace to be fully operational by June 1

In a heated debate that saw the PM bang the dispatch and raise his voice, Sir Keir accused the PM of making false promises.

He said: “Two weeks ago today the PM promised we had a test track and trace system that will be world beating, and yes it will be in place by the 1st of June. But it isn’t.

“A critical element, the ability of local authorities to respond to local spikes is missing.

“Dido Harding, the Prime Minister’s own chair of the track and trace system, has said this element won’t be ready until the end of June.

“Why did he make that promise?”

A furious PM accused the “casting aspersions on the efforts of tens of thousands of people”.

He said: “We now have 40,000 people engaged in this.

“Every person who tests positive in this country under the track and trace system is contacted, then thousands of their contacts are then contacted.

“Thousands of people are being tested every day.

“I can tell the house, as a result of our test track and trace system, which was up and running on the 1st of June, thousands of people are now following our guidance, following the law and self-isolating to stop the spread of the disease.”

The Government launched NHS Test and Trace without a tracing app, leaving the current system entirely reliant on contact tracers physically tracking people down.

Sir Keir also challenged the PM on polls showing a collapse of trust in the Government, and pointed out UK statistics watchdog David Norgrove accusing Matt Hancock of “misleading” testing figures.

The head of the UK Statistics Authority had claimed the government were misleading the public over the numbers of tests carried out for Covid-19.

He said: “The problem when the PM uses statistics is that the Statistics Authority have had concerns on more than one occasion,

“This is the week of all weeks where public trust and confidence in the government needed to be at its highest.”

A visibly rattled PM replied: “I really do not see the purpose of his endless attacks on public trust and confidence when what we are trying to do, and I think what the public want to hear from politicians across all parties, is our clear messages about how to defeat this virus.”

Sir Keir told Mr Johnson: “The Prime Minister is confusing scrutiny for attacks.”.

The PM was also challenged over the new voting system that saw MPs forced into ridiculous queues and take 45 minutes to complete a vote.

Sir Keir said: “The scenes yesterday of MPs queuing to vote, and member unable to vote was frankly shameful.

“If any other employer behaved like this it would be a clear and obvious case of indirect discrimination”.