By John Smith • Published: 17 Apr 2020 • 12:45
BRITISH Government Minister Grant Shapps and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have criticised new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for comments he has made about Dominic Raab’s apparent inability to make Covid-19 exit strategy decisions.
Speaking to the BBC’s Coronavirus podcast Sir Keir said “I think that throughout this they’ve [the government] struggled with taking decisions quickly enough” and then added “The other factor though, I think, is we all know that the prime minister has been in hospital.”
As well as suggesting that for the last 10 days the government appeared to be in a state of limbo he also stated “I suspect, although I don’t know, that Dominic Raab is just reluctant – he probably does know that it’s time for an exit strategy – but he’s probably reluctant to sign it off without the prime minister and I think there’s a bit of that in the mix.”
Mr Shapps made it clear when speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme that government continued to operate on an efficient daily basis guided by scientific advice, which would have been the same whether Boris Johnson had participated in the Cobra and sub-committee meetings or not.
The prime minister is of course recovering in his second home Chequers.
MS Sturgeon also spoke to Today and said “I don’t know that that’s fair – we’re all struggling with this unprecedented circumstance and doing our best to plot a way through it.”
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Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews
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