Bill Turnbull was left incredibly frustrated when joined by the Work and Pensions Secretary today, who refused to answer a key question regarding the travel restrictions imposed on certain variant hotspots in the UK.
Ministers have been urged to clarify advising against all essential travel inside and out of eight areas where the Covid variant, which originated in India, is believed to be most prevalent.
The affected areas that the guidance, which is not law, applies to are Bedford, Blackburn and Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester, Hounslow, and North Tyneside.
Despite the change in guidance, there was no official statement announced and it is believed that local leaders were unaware of as such.
Yet, when appearing on Good Morning Britain today, MP Therese Coffey failed to address questions as to why the government hadn't officially announced the changes - despite spending £2.6million on a new press briefing room.
The Tory MP insisted that there had been "extra communication on the ground", but a visibly vexed Bill persisted in asking her why they hadn't announced it.
As Coffey continued to waffle on vaguely about the government's working on the ground with local councils, Bill interjected.
Bill retorted firmly: "Yes, yes, yes. But my question is - why didn't people in these areas get told? Why did it just get put on the website?"
Susanna Reid agreed, jumping in: "You've effectively announced eight local lockdowns. We mentioned earlier about the fact that you have a very expensive, very effective - you'd hope - new briefing room where you could have held one of the briefings to announce that in Bedford, Blackburn and Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester, Hounslow, and North Tyneside - you cannot travel in and out of it unless it is essential."
However, Coffey insisted that "the guidance is very clear".
"We're recognising the higher risk in those communities," she replied.
Yet as Coffey was questioned on what would happen if a family within that area was due to go on holiday to a green list country and believed it to be essential, the MP refused to answer by saying that she wouldn't be responding to case studies.
"The guidance is very clear, Susanna," she remarked.
This comes after Coffey stormed off Good Morning Britain in January after rowing with Piers Morgan about the reason for the UK having the highest coronavirus death rate in the world.
*Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV
