Liz Kendall MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Social Care, responding to Robert Buckland admitting on Sky News that the Government made a choice to prioritise the NHS for testing over care homes, said:

“This is the clearest admission yet that ministers did not give care homes the protection they needed at the start of this pandemic.

“Social care and the NHS are both equally important in the fight against this virus and are inextricably linked. One cannot be prioritised above the other.

“Ministers must give social care the resources, support and attention it needs to stop the spread of this awful virus.”