‘APPALLING’.

That is how a Wharfedale MP has described comments by the Prime Minister which claimed that many care homes ‘didn’t really follow the procedures’ for preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Boris Johnson’s remarks sparked fury within the care home sector and were perceived by many as an attempt to shift the blame for coronavirus deaths.

MP Alex Sobel (Lab, Leeds North West) said: “I was appalled to hear Boris Johnson’s comments. In Leeds North West care homes were imploring the Government to protect them with adequate testing and PPE. I spent weeks gathering up as much PPE as I could myself and delivering it. It is not OK for the leader of our country to shirk responsibility and blame care homes for this disaster.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the PM’s comments were an attempt to explain that ‘because asymptomatic transmission was not known about the correct procedures were therefore not known’.