UK’s exit strategy: Keir Starmer exposes how coronavirus lockdown could end
SIR KEIR STARMER exposed how the coronavirus lockdown could ultimately end as he urged the British Government to unveil their exit strategy to help the country plan for the future.
Keir Starmer says UK exit strategy planning ‘needs to go in now’
Sir Keir Starmer insisted the British Government must roll out plans for the aftermath of the coronavirus lockdown now to ensure the country is ready for the future. Sir Keir insisted Britons need to see "the light at the end of the tunnel" as he suggested the lockdown could end with widespread tests and tracing mechanism to monitor the virus. Speaking to Good Morning Britain, the Labour Party leader said: "It’s obvious the lockdown is going to continue and we’re going to support that.
"But I do think the question is what comes next and there are many reasons why I’m calling for an exit strategy.
"The first one is trust - people are trusting the Government, they are broadly speaking complying with the rules but they do need to see light at the end of the tunnel.
"I’m not asking the Government for timings, I understand why they cannot give us timings. But we do need the trust of the public as we go forward."
He added: "The second thing is planning. There’s some criticism of the planning of the Government previously.
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"We need to make sure there’s planning for the exit strategy because if part of the exit strategy is testing and tracing, it may well be that decision on testing need to be taken now.
"We can’t afford the situation where, in a few months, we say, ‘well, that’s now the strategy'."
Sir Keir wrote to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urging him to release the Government's exit strategy to end the coronavirus lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the whole of the UK under lockdown over three weeks ago in a bid to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.
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In his letter to Mr Raab, Sir Keir said: "I am writing to urge that on Thursday you commit to the following.
“Setting out clearly the criteria the Government will be using to inform how and when it intends to ease the lockdown measures.
“Publishing the Government’s exit strategy now or in the coming week, so that when Parliament has returned from the Easter recess it can be subject to proper parliamentary scrutiny.
“Outlining the sectors of the economy and the core public services that you consider most likely to see restrictions eased.”
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He added: “This should be accompanied by a clear plan to protect workers and family members as well an assessment of the impact such measures will have on the economy and existing government support schemes.”
The Government was due to review the lockdown measures last week but Mr Raab confirmed during Thursday’s daily Downing Street briefing the review will happen this week.
The Tory frontbencher insisted the Government would wait until hard evidence on the impact of the lockdown was available to set out a timeline for the potential easing of the restrictions.