Advertisement

Black Lives Matter protests risk spreading Covid-19, says Hancock

The UK health secretary has said there is undoubtedly a risk there will be an increase in coronavirus cases following the Black Lives Matter protests this weekend, while denying Britain is a racist country.

Matt Hancock repeated his calls for people not to attend protests if physical distancing cannot be observed, as further demonstrations were planned for Sunday.

“I support very strongly the argument that is being made by those who are protesting … but the virus itself doesn’t discriminate and gathering in large groups is temporarily against the rules precisely because it increases the risk of the spread of this virus,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

He said about one in 1,000 people have the virus so when groups of thousands come together that risks spreading the disease, which could then risk lives.

Asked whether he thought the UK was a racist country, Hancock insisted it was not. He said: “I don’t, but I do think there’s injustice that needs to be tackled and I’ve spent my political life fighting for equality.”

He subsequently struggled when asked how many black people were in the cabinet, pointing to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and Priti Patel, the home secretary, who are of British-Asian backgrounds.

Hancock also said further action would be taken to address the root causes of why people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds were disproportionately affected by coronavirus, after a Public Health England (PHE) study was criticised for failing to make recommendations on how the issue could be addressed.

Thousands of anti-racism protesters gathered peacefully across the UK on Saturday, defying calls from ministers and police chiefs to avoid mass gatherings.

Crowds of mostly young people heard speeches in Parliament Square, London, declaring the beginning of the end of institutional racism, and observed a minute’s silence on one knee to commemorate black people killed by police in the UK.

default

There were a small number of violent clashes between protesters and police, , which the Metropolitan police chief, Cressida Dick, condemned as “shocking and completely unacceptable”.

The protests have been sparked by demonstrations in the US in response to the killing by a police officer of George Floyd, a black man, who was filmed repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe” as the officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

One of Hancock’s Conservative colleagues, Sajid Javid, the former chancellor, said the government had to do more to address racial inequality in society.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Javid – who also previously served as home secretary – said the UK must not pretend that it does not have substantial obstacles to overcome in regard to integration and opportunity.

“There are still parts of society that are more concerned about the status quo than justice and humanity,” he wrote.

He said racism could occur anywhere in the world, and that new ambition was needed to break down barriers in Britain.

“The government can and must do more to address racial inequalities in our society,” Javid wrote. “As with all large-scale, systematic challenges, only the prime minister is capable of driving real change, and I know he cares deeply.”

He said there was a greater disproportionality of black people in prisons in the UK than in the US, and that while abuse directed at officers was unacceptable, the police service “still has a way to go”.

Government ministers have urged people not to go out to protest, but Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said she was proud of those who had taken to the streets to demand change.

Nandy said the UK government could not remain silent on racism in the US or the UK. Also appearing on The Andrew Marr Show, she said she had “no idea whether Donald Trump is a racist or not a racist”, but believed his response to the mass protests after the police killing of George Floyd was an election strategy.

“In the run-up to the American elections, this is one of the ways that politicians try to activate their base,” said Nandy. “They divide people in order to try to advance their own cause and that’s actually one of the things that is so damaging about it.

“That’s crept into our politics in Britain in the last few years and we’re seeing under the cover of Covid. Other countries trying to do something similar, rowing back on people’s freedoms, human rights, the rule of law, democracy.”

Nandy said she supported peaceful protesters and urged them to observe physical distancing where possible. “You cannot be silent in the face of racism and police brutality, and I think those young people are right to raise their voices and to demand change,” she said.