THE Home Secretary has admitted that the UK borders should have been closed 10 months ago in order to tackle the spread of Covid-19.
Speaking to the Conservative Friends of India group about borders on Zoom last night, Priti Patel told supporters she had been “an advocate of closing them last March”.
The Guido Fawkes blog shared the footage of Patel making the comments.
Public health experts have long expressed that the border measures in place were not sufficient to tackle the spread of coronavirus.
READ MORE: Covid-19: Priti Patel says it's not time to talk about UK Government 'mismanagement'
From March to June, the first peak of the pandemic, the UK Government chose not to impose a ban or quarantine restrictions on people coming into the UK – after March 13 those coming here were told simply to self-isolate if they developed symptoms.
Then in June those entering the UK were told to quarantine for 14 days. The following month saw “travel corridors” set up, where people coming in from certain countries did not need to self-isolate.
This week all travel corridors were shut as the UK tackles the second wave of the pandemic and new, more infectious strains of coronavirus.
All the way back in August the Home Affairs Committee had said the lack of measures in place was a “serious mistake”.
READ MORE: Covid testing at airports isn't enough – this is why we must be tougher on travel
In the Zoom call, she is heard telling the group: “On 'should we have closed our borders earlier', the answer is yes, I was an advocate of closing them last March."
Labour’s shadow home secretary has called the comment a “shocking admission”. Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “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."
The Home Office insisted there are “strong measures at the border”.
Joanna Cherry, the SNP's shadow home secretary, said the admission came "far too late".
“I called for health protection measures to be put in place at the borders right at the beginning of the pandemic in the UK and was ignored by the Tory Government for weeks before they U-turned and introduced an ineffective system for far too short a period," she added.
“It is deeply concerning that the Home Secretary knew what had to be done but failed to do so, and repeated the same mistakes we've seen the UK Government make throughout this crisis by bringing in measures at the 11th hour.
“Other countries in Europe and across the world introduced these measures months before the UK – knowing how vital they are. The Home Secretary has consistently been far too slow to act on this and must explain why she failed to step up to prevent increased risk of transmission – despite knowing it was the right thing to do.”
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