Open letter to Labour Leader, Keir Starmer

COVID-19: saving lives must be the Labour Party’s priority

According to analysis by the Financial Times, Britain has the highest number of daily deaths globally aside from the US, with forecasts that more people will die in Britain than any other European country. It is therefore crucial that the Labour leadership puts the maximum pressure on the British government to save lives.

The Conservative government’s response to the virus has been catastrophic: its failure to introduce testing, launch an effective public health awareness campaign, introduce timely social distancing measures - and the economic support to facilitate this - together with its decision to prioritise economic interests over securing necessary PPE and ventilators, has resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths.

The impact of the lockdown - although inadequate without widespread testing and contact tracing - has seen a slowing in the number of UK hospital COVID-19 deaths.

Instead of lobbying government to lift social distancing restrictions, the Labour Party should prioritise calls from the medical profession and trade unions to:

1. requisition industry to manufacture ventilators and the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for all frontline workers, including to travel to work on public transport and actively promote current industry and trade union-led initiatives and bring private health resources into public control.
2. introduce systematic testing, contact tracing, isolating and monitoring in order to contain the virus and stop its resurgence once any lock down is lifted.
3. end the practice of moving vulnerable patients with COVID into care homes.
4. improve and expand economic support (raising Statutory Sick Pay, suspending rents and utility bills etc) to protect people from falling further into poverty and enabling the workforce to comply with social distancing, including all NHS workers and outsourced NHS staff.
5. Make all information the Government is basing its strategy on wholly available for public scrutiny.

We urge the leadership to promote demands of Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, for the Home Office to scrap healthcare charges, release detained migrants, end the no recourse to public funds policy and grant all migrant NHS staff indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
https://twitter.com/BellRibeiroAddy/status/1250811614934241282

We welcome Labour’s support for the National Education Union’s demand that schools only re-open when it is safe to do so, and urge the leadership to stand firm against government plans to reopen schools as soon as 11th May: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/open-schools-when-it-is-safe

At this time of unprecedented crisis, the Labour Party must do everything possible to secure immediate action to halt the spread of this deadly virus.

nb. This letter has been written by members for members, and no data will be stored beyond the short answers required on the form.