MPs` Easter break irresponsible!

Polly Toynbee ends her article on the prime minister`s "cavalier incompetence" by stating that " as parliament returns, it`s time to challenge the failures of these renegades" (Johnson is the wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time, 21/04/20). Advice from the WHO on testing was ignored weeks ago, shortages of PPE were obvious at the start of the outbreak, whilst the daily briefings revealed little more than obfuscation and waffle from day one.

         The biggest health crisis in over a hundred years demanded that parliament, even in a skeleton form, be recalled at the end of March.  Excuses about social distancing problems in the chamber are irrelevant as is obvious, both from what is happening this week, and also from the "verbal question time" held in Scotland with Sturgeon before Easter. Possibly, this government could then have been forced into taking preventative measures, rather than the belated and botched remedial measures we witness now!

In the biggest health crisis in over a century, the country`s parliament is still on holiday! As the daily briefings have shown all too clearly, there is, as Keir Starmer says, "no substitute for parliamentary scrutiny", but why has the "chorus of cross-party calls for the recall of parliament" taken so long (As virus death toll nears 10,000, parties unite to demand the recall of parliament, 12.04.20)? It`s not as though the government took the advice of the World Health Organisation on testing, dealt with the problems of insufficient protective equipment promptly, or even ordered the lockdown quickly enough!

 Excuses about the problems associated with social distancing in the House of Commons are irrelevant, as it is patently obvious that debates and questioning could have been taking place before Easter along the lines of the "virtual question time" held with Sturgeon in Scotland. Possibly then, this government could have been forced into both taking preventative rather than belated remedial measures, as in the case of care homes, and into debating an exit strategy which considered all aspects of the effects of lockdown, including those on mental health!