PMQ: Controversy Around Test and Trace

This week’s Prime Ministers Question began with questions from MPs from around the nation, then moved to those from the Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer. 

Starmer began by claiming that Johnson had been inconsistent as to his view on Test and Trace. On Tuesday, Johnson remarked that Test and Trace had “very little or nothing” to do with the spread of the coronavirus, a position Starmer found contradictory considering the Prime Minister’s previous support. Johnson answered by saying that it was “epidemiological fact that transmission of the virus takes place by human contact from person to person. What Test and Trace enables us to do is to isolate the cases of the virus with ever greater detail.” Essentially, the Prime Minister made clear that Test and Trace was more of a reactionary rather than preventative method. 

The back and forth continued with Starmer questioning the efficacy of the government’s COVID-19 management, specifically with regard to the return of pupils to school, and with Johnson defending his methods and finding issue with the ongoing “attacks” to his leadership from the Opposition.