Minister falls ill while he speaks in Parliament
BUSINESS Secretary Alok Sharma has been tested for coronavirus after he became unwell while speaking in the House of Commons.
He returned home to self-isolate after struggling during a speech at the despatch box. Mr Sharma appeared unwell during the second reading of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill yesterday.
It comes a day after MPs approved the Government’s plan to end virtual voting in the Commons.
But if Mr Sharma is confirmed to have the virus and has infected others it could potentially derail plans to bring back a live Parliament.
During the debate, he was seen wiping his face with a handkerchief several times and his opposite number in Labour’s shadow cabinet, Ed Miliband, passed him a glass of water at one point.
A spokeswoman for Mr Sharma said: “Secretary of State Alok Sharma began feeling unwell when in the chamber delivering the second reading of the Corporate Governance and Insolvency Bill.
“In line with guidance he has been tested for coronavirus and is returning home to self-isolate.”
Yesterday Boris Johnson had insisted in the House that he was proud of the Government’s effort in fighting coronavirus in the face of attacks from Labour.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed “public trust and confidence” in the official response was collapsing.
He also accused ministers of publishing inadequate data about the number of Covid-19 tests being carried out and warned councils were weeks away from being able to respond to localised outbreaks.
But Mr Johnson defended the Government’s record and accused the Opposition of U-turns by abandoning their previous support for the action taken to tackle the disease.
During tetchy exchanges at Prime Minister’s Questions, he said: “I am very proud of our record. We have protected the NHS. We have driven down the death rate. We are now seeing far fewer hospital admissions.
“Test and trace is a vital tool in our armoury, and, contrary to what he says, we did get up to 100,000 tests a day by the end of May and to 200,000 by the beginning of this month. That was an astonishing achievement.”