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Today, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey has raised concerns that the Prime Minister has misled Parliament regarding his response to his question yesterday on the changing of the Government's slogan, calling on Boris Johnson to correct the record urgently.
Yesterday, Ed Davey asked the Prime Minister to confirm "reports that neither the chief medical officer nor the chief scientific adviser signed off yesterday’s shift in the public health message from “Stay at home” to “Stay alert”?" - which the Prime Minister denied.
However, at the press conference yesterday evening both Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, refused to confirm they directly signed off the new slogan.
Following this, Ed Davey has today written a letter (below) to the Prime Minister stating that "if you have misled Parliament, inadvertently or otherwise, that this is incredibly serious" and that he must "attend the House to correct the record at your earliest convenience".
Further to the letter, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:
"Millions of people across the UK have given up their freedom in following the Government's advice to slow the spread of coronavirus and keep each other safe, with many risking their livelihoods entirely. In the past 48 hours we have seen the Government make a total mess of their public health communications as they changed the advice and messaging, creating more confusion than clarity.
"Yesterday, I directly asked the Prime Minister to confirm whether the reports that neither the Chief Medical Office, Chris Whitty, nor the Chief Scientific Officer, Patrick Vallance, had signed off the change in slogan were true. He stated that those reports were "not right".
"However at the press conference just hours later, both the Chief Medical Office and Chief Scientific Officer refused to confirm they directly signed off the slogan, with Boris Johnson dodging the question altogether. This is not acceptable. If the Prime Minister has misled Parliament, that is incredibly serious and at the very least he must come to the House of Commons and correct the record immediately."
Yesterday, Ed Davey asked the Prime Minister to confirm "reports that neither the chief medical officer nor the chief scientific adviser signed off yesterday’s shift in the public health message from “Stay at home” to “Stay alert”?" - which the Prime Minister denied.
However, at the press conference yesterday evening both Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, refused to confirm they directly signed off the new slogan.
Following this, Ed Davey has today written a letter (below) to the Prime Minister stating that "if you have misled Parliament, inadvertently or otherwise, that this is incredibly serious" and that he must "attend the House to correct the record at your earliest convenience".
Further to the letter, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:
"Millions of people across the UK have given up their freedom in following the Government's advice to slow the spread of coronavirus and keep each other safe, with many risking their livelihoods entirely. In the past 48 hours we have seen the Government make a total mess of their public health communications as they changed the advice and messaging, creating more confusion than clarity.
"Yesterday, I directly asked the Prime Minister to confirm whether the reports that neither the Chief Medical Office, Chris Whitty, nor the Chief Scientific Officer, Patrick Vallance, had signed off the change in slogan were true. He stated that those reports were "not right".
"However at the press conference just hours later, both the Chief Medical Office and Chief Scientific Officer refused to confirm they directly signed off the slogan, with Boris Johnson dodging the question altogether. This is not acceptable. If the Prime Minister has misled Parliament, that is incredibly serious and at the very least he must come to the House of Commons and correct the record immediately."
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