A Tory minister has called the UK’s coronavirus testing crisis “unacceptable” and said she is “sorry”.
Former Defence Secretary and now Paymaster General Penny Mordaunt uploaded a video to Twitter in which she addressed the concerns of her constituents.
Ms Mordaunt, who is a minister in the Cabinet Office, said she had been raising the problems with Health Secretary Matt Hancock since September 7.
She said: “I just wanted to give you an update on the unacceptable situation with regard to getting a coronavirus test.
“This is affecting people being able to get access to healthcare in some cases but having knock on effects to education, health, care, businesses all sorts of people trying to get the economy back on track and trying to go about living their daily lives and protect their family.
“I’m sorry that so many of you have had problems getting a test.”
Ms Mordaunt said she met with the central test and trace team as well as speaking to the Prime Minister directly.
She added: “We’ve got to ensure going forward that policy – what we are asking people to do – matches capacity. It’s a bad situation that we don’t have more testing capacity.
“I think the public understand that as that is being generated. But what we mustn’t be doing is telling them at the same time that they need to go and get a test when know they are not to be able to do that.”
Ms Mordaunt previously spoke out about the Prime Minister’s most senior adviser Dominic Cummings over his actions during lockdown.
She said there were “inconsistencies” in Mr Cummings’ account and said he “took risks” when he travelled 260 miles to Durham with his wife and child.
The former Secretary of State told constituents that the affair had “undermined key public health messages”, according to an email obtained by the Guardian
