MOUNTING PRESSURE
MINISTER’S MOVE IN REPLY TO ROW OVER CUMMINGS
More than 35 Tory MPs want PM to sack chief aide Dominic Cummings over lockdown breach
Bishop of Newcastle receives death threat after questioning Boris Johnson’s response to situation
Grieving son unable to see his father due to stay at home rules labels adviser ‘disgraceful’
HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock has vowed that the Government will review fines issued to people who broke the lockdown in order to obtain childcare.
It comes after Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s top adviser, said he and his wife travelled from London to Durham in order to ensure there was childcare for their son.
More than 35 Conservative MPs have demanded that Mr Cummings resign or be sacked for apparently breaking lockdown rules. He says he has not broken any rules and continues to have the support of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference, Mr Hancock urged the public to continue obeying lockdown rules, as he said: “We must not lose our resolve.”
But he was put on the spot by the first question asked at the press conference, which came from a member of the public – Martin Poole, a vicar from Brighton.
He asked: “Will the Government review all penalty fines imposed on families travelling for childcare purposes during lockdown?”
Mr Hancock said: “It’s a very good question. And we do understand the impact and the need for making sure that children get adequate childcare. That is one of the significant concerns we’ve had all the way through this.
“And so I think, especially coming from a man of the cloth, that is perfectly reasonable to take away that question. I’ll have to talk to my Treasury colleagues before I can answer it in full. We’ll look at it.”
He said the Government would make an announcement at a future press conference.
Mr Hancock used the press conference to announce a possible breakthrough in the development of coronavirus treatment.
He said the UK was “leading the world” in clinical trials of coronavirus treatment, and highlighted a new trial for some NHS patients of an anti-viral drug which had already delivered “promising early results”.
Studies so far suggested the drug could improve treatment times by four days, he said.
And he told the nation: “We’re past the peak. We’re flattening the curve. The number of deaths is falling. We must keep our resolve.”
But the announcement failed to distract attention from the ongoing row over Mr Cummings and his journey from
London to Durham
with his wife and child, which critics say broke lockdown rules.
Mr Johnson is under growing pressure from Conservative MPs to sack Mr Cummings, who insists he did not break the rules.
Government Minister Douglas Ross, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for Scotland, said on Tuesday that he was resigning from the Government after hearing Mr Cummings’ efforts to defend his trip.
Mr Ross, the MP for Moray, said: “I have constituents who didn’t get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn’t visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the Government.
“I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the Government was right.”
More than 35 Tory MPs have called for the aide to quit or be sacked by the PM.
Former attorney general Jeremy Wright called for Mr Cummings to quit, saying his actions may technically have been within the rules, but efforts to combat Covid-19 had been due to “people accepting wholeheartedly not just the letter of the restrictions that have been set out, but also their spirit”.
Former minister Robert Goodwill told the PA news agency: “I’ve been contacted by over 400 constituents who, with one or two exceptions, have been critical of Mr Cummings and his statement yesterday has done nothing to convince them otherwise.
“I think that the best way for the Prime Minister, who I’m a massive fan of, to show he’s in charge of the situation is to relieve himself of Mr Cummings’ services.”
Veteran Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale said the backbench 1922 Committee should tell Mr Johnson that Mr Cummings has to go.
In an extraordinary press conference in Downing Street’s garden on Monday, Mr Cummings argued that his journey to Durham in March was justified as he sought to protect his family’s health.
But many questions remained unanswered, including over his subsequent drive to Barnard Castle which he said was to test his eyesight after it was affected by Covid-19.
He declined to apologise and said he did not regret his actions.
A number of Bishops have received death threats after publicly criticising Mr Cummings or the way the Prime Minister handled the issue. They include the Bishops of Worcester and Newcastle, among others.
The number of deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK has passed 47,000, according to an analysis by the PA news agency.