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City MP Calls on Government to hand control of contact tracing to local authorities

By 14 October 2020No Comments

Stephen Morgan MP has today urged the government to hand over control of contact tracing to councils and local public health teams, following revelations that the national – largely privatised – system is only making a marginal  difference to addressing rapidly rising rates of Covid-19 infection. 

The Portsmouth South representative said:

“For months, Labour has been asking this government to put contact tracing into the hands of councils and local public health teams who know their own communities better than anyone.

In the face of all the evidence, the Tories are continuing with a system that rewards failure by handing enormous sums of money to big companies such as Serco and Sitel.

The government should look at the science, follow our call to bring in a circuit break and transfer control of contact tracing to local authorities, so that we can better protect people’s lives and livelihoods.”

Even when the evidence mounts from Peterborough, Cumbria and throughout Wales that local tracing is more effective, the Tory government seems adamant to keep plodding on with a model that puts people’s lives and livelihoods at risk.

Stephen Morgan MP added:

“Transferring this control on a local level to Portsmouth is crucial if we are to see the Government get a grip on this crisis and save people’s lives.”