James O'Brien: Government guilty of 'evading responsibility' on Indian Covid variant
19 May 2021, 10:49
James O'Brien says Government has 'evaded responsibility'
James O'Brien has suggested the Government has been guilty of "evading responsibility" in its handling of the Indian Covid variant as the vaccine rollout progresses.
The LBC host made the remark as ministers are urging people to get their Covid vaccine when they are eligible amid cases of the Indian variant continuing to grow in the UK.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed yesterday there have been 2,323 confirmed cases of the B.1.617.2 variant in the UK, with 86 local authorities having five or more confirmed cases.
Mr Hancock also announced that although the Indian variant appears to be more transmissible, early data suggests Covid vaccines appear to be effective against the variant.
Referring of the Government, James said: "So you know and I know there is no depth unplumbed when it comes to covering their own asses and evading responsibility for their own actions.
"They got elected on a platform of lies. They have to carry on lying. But I didn't think it would spread into Covid quite so completely and so quickly, and that's what is happening now.
"They let in the Indian variant. They failed to put India on the 'red list'. They allowed 20,000 potentially infected people into the country to go and mix relatively freely across the population."
James then suggested the Government is blaming the prevalence of the Indian variant in the UK on "people who haven't been vaccinated".
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