Labour has accused the government of “monumental mistakes” in its handling of the pandemic, as ministers continued to insist they did everything they could to try prevent more than 100,000 deaths from the virus. The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said a “litany of errors” had led to the UK having the fifth-highest death toll in the world and the highest death rate relative to its population. “I just don’t believe that the government did do everything we could,” he told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “We all accept these are challenging times for any government. This is a virus which has swept across the world with speed and severity and it continues to spread ferociously … But monumental mistakes have been made, we have had a litany of errors in the last 12 months, and he didn’t have to make these mistakes. “It’s just horrendous on every front … I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, I just do not believe that Boris Johnson did everything we could, I just can’t accept that.” Sky News repeatedly challenged the communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, over Johnson’s assertion on Tuesday that the government had done everything it could to try to prevent Covid… Read full this story
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