Former minister Matt Hancock links Brexit chaos to failures to prepare for the pandemic

June 27 () –

The former British Health Minister, Matt Hancock, responsible for some of the measures adopted at the worst moments of the COVID-19 pandemic, has admitted that the United Kingdom did not adopt a good strategy to contain the spread of the virus and has recognized that fear to an abrupt exit from the European Union forced the diversion of resources that would have served to prepare the country for a health emergency of such magnitude.

In 2016, the United Kingdom organized a drill that was supposed to test the level of preparedness against a pandemic. However, when COVID-19 arrived, 14 of the 22 recommendations arising from that essay had not been put into practice, as Hancock acknowledged this Tuesday during an appearance before the commission investigating the management of the crisis.

The former minister has assumed “full responsibility” for the fact that Brexit and the risk of a “disorganized” or no-deal exit from the EU forced resources to be dedicated to this scenario that, otherwise, would have ended in “plans to prepare in the face of a pandemic”. The United Kingdom left the community bloc at the end of January 2020, but it was not until the end of that year that the ‘in extremis’ agreement was reached that would mark the future roadmap.

In general terms, Hancock has explained that the Government, then led by Boris Johnson, focused more on “the consequences of the disaster” than on preventing it from taking place. Johnson publicly underestimated the effects of the disease, although he changed his strategy after contracting the coronavirus himself and ending up in intensive care.

The former minister regretted that the debate revolved around buying body bags or studying “where the dead were to be buried”, since the approach, in his opinion, “was completely wrong.” In this sense, he denies that the United Kingdom can boast of having had the best planning in the world in this emergency.

Hancock, under whose command measures such as confinements were taken, has shown himself “deeply sorry for each death”, in the framework of an appearance in which he has addressed representatives of the families of some of those victims. In fact, he has been reprimanded by the widow of a man who died in March 2020 in a residence.

The former minister ended up resigning in June 2021, although not because of the alleged mismanagement that he has now recognized, but for breaking the regulations in force to meet his lover. Since then, he has moved away from the political front line and has even participated in a survival show on television.