Keir Starmer said the UK has been "very slow" on testing for Covid-19 as he grilled the government over a lack of protective equipment and the deaths of frontline health workers in his first Prime Minister's Questions since becoming Labour leader.
Starmer challenged Dominic Raab, standing in for Boris Johnson, with concerns over the gap between the capacity for testing and the actual number of daily tests.
He also questioned whether the government will reach the promised 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month.
Starmer said: “The Health Secretary made a very important commitment to 100,000 tests a day by the end of April, but yesterday the figure for actual tests was 18,000 a day and that was down from Monday, which was 19,000 tests a day.
“We’re way behind the curve and the end of the month is a week tomorrow. So, what does the First Secretary expect to happen in the next eight days to get us from 18,000 tests a day to 100,000 tests a day?”
Raab said testing capacity was up to 40,000 a day and will increase “exponentially” by the end of the month.
Raab said: “Of course, he is right to say that in the final week that will require a big increase.
“But, of course, with a project like this, it does require an exponential increase in the final days and the final week of the programme.”
Starmer went on to highlight failings in acquiring PPE equipment and the sluggish government response to offers of help from British firms.
Starmer said: “There’s a pattern emerging here - we were slow into lockdown, slow on testing, slow on protective equipment and now slow to take up these offers from British firms.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, dialling in from the Isle of Skye, repeated calls for a universal basic income scheme.
He warned “thousands” of businesses and individuals have found themselves with “no income, with no support and no end in sight, all because of arbitrary cut-off dates and bureaucratic barriers imposed by the UK Government”.
Raab rejected the idea, adding: “We need to have a very focused approach, providing the resources we need to those who need it most and a universal income without being based on need wouldn’t provide that.”
The hybrid meeting of the Commons, with video links and social distancing in place, hit some glitches.
David Mundell, the only Scottish MP listed for a backbench question, was unable to connect from his Moffat home.
