Chris Whitty underlining repeatedly to @CommonsSTC that easing lockdown too early would lead to 'substantial' number of deaths. Even if vaccine was 99% effective, even if take up as good as it is now, that risk remains, he says.
Valuable backing for the PM's roadmap
"People should remember that things can turn bad very fast if you don't keep a very close eye on what's going on," Whitty says.
Key line from Whitty on vaccination of older people: “The idea that is a sort of get out of jail card, in terms of a surge of transmission, I think is to misremember where in the age spectrum the drive of transmission is - and it's in younger adults.”
"Look at what is happening in continental Europe at the moment where a lot of countries are going back into rates going up and having to close things down again."
Whitty: "If you look at the history of this all around the world, the history of this is not full of countries + individual leaders, wishing they had done more fast. It's full of leaders who wish they had actually acted quicker, and then been more careful as they take things off"
Whitty also pointing out that each of the 'blocks' in the PM's roadmap are "large blocks of potential risk", says they each include lots of different relaxations.
Sounds v much like the PM has pushed the envelope of what should be unlocked and when, given Whitty's caution.
He pleads: "Do not try and concertina up the five week breaks [between roadmap stages]" cos it takes min 4 wks to see effect of changes + ppl need 1 wk notice

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More from @paulwaugh

11 Mar
Agreed by Labour's NEC today: the party will introduce new codes of conduct and training on Islamophobia and anti-Black racism – to both complement its disciplinary procedures, and support the culture change pledged by @Keir_Starmer and @AngelaRayner
Separately, new training courses on Islamophobia and anti-Black racism will be developed for elected representatives and staff, in particular those who handle complaints. This complements training on antisemitism as part of action plan agreed with EHRC
The NEC also agreed to create a new party-wide organisation for Black, Asian and ethnic minority members, with a national committee and annual conference.
All Labour BAME members will automatically be part of a new Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Members Organisation (BAMEMO)
Read 6 tweets
10 Mar
NEW: PM's press secretary Allegra Stratton refuses at least TWELVE times to answer this Q: does @BorisJohnson accept he was wrong to say Labour voted against an NHS pay rise?
Instead, she repeatedly says the Speaker has accepted @JonAshworth's "clarification" [ie saying the PM lied] and the matter is now closed.
A reminder that during the 2019 GenElxn live tv debate, when @BorisJohnson was asked "Does the truth matter in this election?”, and he responded “I think it does", the audience burst into derisive laughter.
One of the few memorably uncomfortable moments for him in that campaign
Read 6 tweets
10 Mar
So proud to work for an editor, @jessbrammar, who was the first to call out the Society of Editors on this.
To suggest that none of our media are bigoted was so obviously wrong.
Latest SoE statement: “The Society of Editors has a proud history of campaigning for freedom of speech and the vital work that journalists do in a democracy to hold power to account... 1/2
"Our statement on Meghan + Harry was made in that spirit but did not reflect what we all know: that there is a lot of work to be done in the media to improve diversity + inclusion. We will reflect on the reaction our statement prompted +work towards being part of the solution”2/2
Read 4 tweets
10 Mar
‘No Clear Evidence’ Test And Trace Has Cut Covid Rates Despite £22bn Cost, Spending Watchdog Says

huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/test-and…
Today's withering PAC criticism follows our @HuffPostUK report last month:
Secret Document Reveals Ministers Bet On Test And Trace To Stop Second Lockdown
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/test-and…
As @didoharding points out, 80% of costs of Test and Trace go on testing. And testing is expensive.
She says service has improved on lots of metrics and it is now doing unprecedented mass scale testing. "Yesterday alone we conducted over 1.5million tests."
Read 4 tweets
3 Mar
Here's the tax stuff....@RishiSunak: "Just as it would be irresponsible to withdraw support too soon, it would also be irresponsible to allow our future borrowing and debt to rise unchecked. When crises come, we need to be able to act. And we need the fiscal freedom to act."
As expected, no detail on taxes "This Budget is not the time to set detailed fiscal rules, with precise targets and dates to achieve them by – I don’t believe that would be sensible."
Yep, he's freezing personal tax thresholds.
Read 7 tweets
1 Mar
BREAKING: In High Court case of Oldknow v Evans, Mrs Justice Tipples has dismissed an application for a court order that would identify alleged leakers of Labour's internal anti-Semitism report.
Judge said that there was a real risk of innocent individuals being named and the case smacked of a legal 'fishing' expedition
Mrs Justice Tipples also said that she took into account the fact that there were two separate investigations into the leak: by the ICO and by Martin Forde QC.
Read 12 tweets

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