"Priti Patel says UK should have closed borders in March 2020"

[dutchman]

Priti Patel says the UK should have closed its borders in March 2020 in light of the coronavirus pandemic



In a video call obtained by Guido Fawkes, the home secretary told Tory supporters she was an "advocate" of closing the borders 10 months ago.

Between mid March and June, the UK did not impose a ban or quarantine restrictions on international travellers arriving in the UK.

The government was criticised for acting too late over border policy, with the Home Affairs Committee of MPs publishing a report in August, saying a lack of measures earlier in the pandemic was a "serious mistake" and the change in rules in March was "inexplicable".

A Home Office spokeswoman responded to the criticism at the time saying all government decisions had been "been guided by the science, with appropriate measures introduced at the right time to keep us all safe".

Now the home secretary has been recorded telling a Zoom call with the Conservative Friends of India group on Tuesday night: "On 'should we have closed our borders earlier', the answer is yes, I was an advocate of closing them last March."

Ms Patel repeatedly refused to appear before the Home Affairs Committee between January and April last year, turning down four invitations and offering private briefings instead.

When she did appear on 29 April last year, she was asked by Labour MP Stephen Doughty if she disagreed with the change in rules around self-isolating in March.

She replied: "We all follow the advice that is given from the government."

The committee's chair, Labour MP Yvette Cooper, told BBC News the "partial admission" that the government were wrong last year was an "astonishing statement" from the home secretary, who she had repeatedly questioned over the subject.

Ms Cooper said the government's handling of border policy had been "chaotic and badly managed at every stage", and it had "contributed to the scale and the pace of the pandemic and made the pandemic worse".

Labour's shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said it was a "shocking admission" from Ms Patel, and the government had "left our doors open to the virus and worrying mutations".

He added: "Ministers now need to - urgently - review and overhaul border policy, whilst taking responsibility for the huge damage their incompetence has done to our national safety and security."

[rebbonk]

Says the woman who can't stop rafts full of illegals coming across the channel.