Unions and Labour fear ‘Covid superspreader free-for-all’ as Tories plan to lift ALL restrictions and ditch free tests this week – Morning Star Online

A COVID super-spreader free-for-all could be unleashed in schools if the government recklessly lifts restrictions this week, unions warned yesterday.

Those in the education sector were joined by the TUC and Labour in telling Prime Minister Boris Johnson that his living with Covid plan was fraught with danger, particularly the abolition of self-isolation rules for infected people and the withdrawal of free testing.

Unite, Unison and GMB, representing school support staff, told the PM that his plan could lead to chaos reigning in schools and millions of hours of lost learning.

They accused him of seeking to please Tory back-bench MPs at the expense of public lives and safety.

In a BBC interview, Mr Johnson gave notice that he plans to lift restrictions and is instead in favour of encouraging personal responsibility.

He is expected to announce the details in the Commons today.

In a joint statement, the three unions urged Mr Johnson to think again and keep in place free testing and the requirement to self-isolate as an absolute minimum.

They said: The governments failure to provide clear, detailed guidance risks a super-spreader free-for-all in schools and other workplaces.

If the remaining safety rules are axed, schools will be left in an impossible situation, with parents unsure about whether to send their children into school, transmission rates soaring and new, more potent variants emerging.

Schools could soon face the nightmare scenario where staff and pupils who have been exposed to Covid or have it themselves are free to come into school without the mandatory need for isolation.

Pupils and staff unaware of their positive status will unknowingly spread Covid if ministers foolishly pull the plug on free kits.

Unison head of education Mike Short said: The Prime Minister appears to care more about keeping in with his backbenchers than he does about the health of the nation.

He called on Mr Johnson to put aside self-interest and err on the side of caution.

Unite national officer Jim Kennedy said: Once again, the Prime Minister is disregarding working peoples and the publics health this time, school staff, children and their families through reckless measures meant only to please his backbenchers.

GMB national officer Avril Chambers said: You have to question the motive behind this reckless decision. We suspect its yet another decision taken by this Prime Minister out of self-interest rather than for the good of the country.

Doctors union the British Medical Association (BMA) also questioned the lifting of restrictions as the toll of deaths and hospitalisations continues to mount.

BMA chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: You have at the moment more people dying, more people in the hospital, than you had before Plan B [restrictions] was introduced.

It seems a rather odd decision to make. We need to see case rates fall down even more, remembering that people arent being restricted at the moment in any severe way at all people are living normally.

The TUC said that charging for Covid tests would be an act of madness in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

It warned that introducing charges would disproportionately hit front-line and low-paid workers, insisting that lateral flow and PCR tests should remain free for all who need them.

TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said: We are all looking forward to getting on with our lives, but the Prime Minister must put the country and public health first, not his backbenchers.

That means fixing our broken sick pay system once and for all. Workers who are laid low by Covid must be paid sick pay while they cant work or people will have to come into work and that will spread infections.

The ongoing failure to provide decent sick pay to everyone is leaving the country vulnerable to new variants and pandemics. Its astonishing ministers cannot see this.

Free tests must remain in place for all those who need them. This is crucial for workplace and public safety.

Labours shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: I am particularly concerned about the end of free testing.

It is like being 2-1 up with 10 minutes left of play and subbing your best defender, he claimed.

We are not out of the woods yet on Covid and it is important that when the government publishes its plan for living with Covid tomorrow, that it is a robust plan that enables everyone to live well with Covid.

Unions called on the government to publish the scientific evidence behind the expected announcement to prove to the public that a bonfire of all the remaining Covid regulations is safe.

Mr Johnson claimed that Britain cannot continue to spendheavily on testing.

I think we need resilience, but we dont need to keep focused on testing, he said. We dont need to keep spending at a rate of 2 billion a month, which is what we were doing in January.

See more here:

Unions and Labour fear 'Covid superspreader free-for-all' as Tories plan to lift ALL restrictions and ditch free tests this week - Morning Star Online