Trust in 10 Downing Street must be at an all-time low

I note it is The Telegraph’s political editor who gets the credit for “stumbling across the story”, which no doubt he shared with his superiors.

If, as alleged, the breaking of the lockdown rules happened over a month ago then the question is were the police informed, and if not why not? If they were informed, what action – if any – did they take?

READ MORE: Was resignation of ‘Prof Lockdown’ a handy distraction for chaotic Tories?

At this critical time in the UK’s history when we have “achieved” the unenviable distinction of having the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, the people’s trust in Downing Street and its apparent lack of transparency will be at an all-time low.

Hopefully our MPs, irrespective of political allegiance, will be able to uncover the truth, take whatever action is required and let us move on in the war against the coronavirus.

Thomas L Inglis
Fintry

SO we are not going to be “led by the science” anymore? As Johnson announced his intention to ditch some of the social distancing measures on Monday ahead of his Cobra meeting, it seems he is no longer waiting for the science. He has clearly stated his intention to relax some aspects of the lockdown, without knowing if the science concurs.

Too bad for us then. We are to become collateral damage – or “warriors”, to quote his orange friend – to protect the economy.Our safety is a worthy sacrifice in this world v Covid-19 battle. His world, that is. The world where a select group have left so few resources in the economy for others that companies go bust when they stop trading for a few weeks and their asset stripping, billionaire owners remain untouched.

It’s not a world many people want to return to, so I was delighted to see the TUC and others step up to demand appropriate protections for their members. After all we must remember, that as the R number falls below 1 our chances of catching Covid-19 may be diminish, but they are not eliminated. And, if caught, with no definitive treatment, we will still all participate in its deadly lottery. The science tells us so.

I Easton
Glasgow

THE proposed plan by Boris Johnson to lessen the lockdown when there are still hundreds of people dying every day is a disgrace. From the outset Boris Johnson and his cronies have shown little regard for human life, weeks were wasted as the full horror of Covid -19 started to spread across the world but instead of preparing for it, the Tory government sat back and developed their herd immunity strategy.

They might say that’s not what they planned but from their inaction it’s clearly what they have been doing. They’ve lied consistently throughout the whole crisis, failing to give clear and accurate figures for the deaths involved, tried to hive off contracts to their supporters (which have all been a catastrophic failure) and now we even find out the much lauded 400,000 gowns from Turkey are all to be sent back because they are useless. It’s a shame we can’t send Johnson and co back to wherever they came from because they have been similarly useless during this outbreak.

The Tories seem to think they can spin their way out of this – dropping ideas like lessening the lockdown to favoured journalists to see how the public fall for it, rather than announce it in parliament where their ideas can come under scrutiny. In contrast the Scottish Government is putting lives before profit, aiming to use their limited powers to protect as many as possible. This crisis clearly shows the limits of devolution – we need the powers to stop international travel and enforce a stronger lockdown.

Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley

IT is probably the primary responsibility of government to keep its citizens safe. All citizens.

If half of the pupils in a primary school, say, be it a state or privately funded establishment, were falling ill or dying, then with a fair degree of certainty the responsible government would step in and try to fix matters.

I would have thought that care homes should be treated similarly. If a care home is inadequately funded or for whatever reason is unable to provide appropriate equipment or adequately trained staff, the care and safety of our citizens is still the primary responsibility of government and they should step in and provide necessary support.

If the care home managers have been greedy and sought to maximise profits say, at the possible expense of their patients’ health or lives, let the law deal with that in due course.

The decision might be , through law courts, to impound care home property or punish the care home managers if they have been irresponsible, but the safety and care of our fellow citizens is still the responsibility of our government.

You cannot pay any agency to take on that final responsibility.

Alex Leggatt
Edinburgh