This social care tragedy exposes complacency of Ministers – Tom Richmond

They might all promise to reform 
this sector – Boris Johnson has done so twice now on the steps of 10 Downing Street – but their words have been 
empty.

It’s why Matt Hancock, the Health and Social Care Secretary, should have focused on the NHS response to the pandemic with a Cabinet big-hitter appointed to oversee the needs of community care.

Only now is political – and public – opinion forcing the Government to wake up to shortcomings in funding, and provision, that The Yorkshire Post has been highlighting, often as a lone voice, for four years.

But what makes my blood boil is Jeremy Hunt’s rank hypocrisy and sanctimony as chair of Parliament’s Health and Social Care Select Committee.

Covid-19, he says, has taught us about the “importance of social care” and he will now ask for a “proper” funding settlement. Really?

This is the same Jeremy Hunt who was Health Secretary from 2012-18 before being elevated to the Foreign Office when a certain Boris Johnson resigned over Brexit.

Now, when the Covid-19 inquiries start, Mr Hunt will be effectively marking his own homework and that of his successor. Yes, he might be an experienced politician and know how the NHS works, a point that some Labour MPs have made, but the impartiality and integrity of the select committee system should never be put at risk like this.

Ex-Ministers should not oversee their former departments (Mel Stride is now doing likewise with regard to the Treasury).

And I’m not alone. Greater Manchester metro mayor Andy Burnham – himself a former Health Secretary in the last Labour government – was also surprised that Mr Hunt was elected to this role by MPs.

He told me: “The Health Select Committee in particular will need to look back at pandemic planning between 2010 and 2020. That will need to be done thoroughly and independently, without any sense of conflicts of interest.” I agree.

NEXT Wednesday marks the 10th anniversary of the 2010 election which paved the way for the Tory and Lib Dem coalition.

It’s been some decade. David Cameron’s reputation is in ruins, though history may be slightly gentler to his successor Theresa May.

His deputy Sir Nick Clegg has fled to America as the Lib Dems struggle to find a leader with national credibility and resonance.

And that election – one remembered for Gordon Brown’s exchange with Gillian Duffy in Rochdale in which he was caught referring to her as “a bigoted woman” – encapsulates everything that has gone wrong with Labour.

Despite a decade of austerity, and Tory turmoil over Brexit, they could not force the Conservatives out of power.

It also remains the greatest challenge for Sir Keir Starmer who, because of Covid-19 restrictions, is unable to visit the North in his capacity as Labour leader.

He might be very effective at Prime Minister’s Questions, but he needs to win back the support of working class voters in the North who backed Brexit and believe that immigration levels are too high.

However his decision to appoint the well-respected Halifax MP Holly Lynch as Shadow Immigration Minister is, nevertheless, an early signal that he understands the issue’s importance. It could also be one of his most significant.

BEFORE the Covid-19 lockdown, it was hoped that tourism would generate £257bn a year for the UK economy – just under 10 per cent of GDP – and support 3.8 million jobs.

Now it will be one of the last sectors to emerge from the lockdown was said glibly by a Minister on national television as a throw-away remark.

Meanwhile, Nigel Huddleston, the Tourism Minister, is conflicted – he’s also the Sports Minister and preoccupied with talks over the resumption of football, racing and so on.

Yet, given tourism’s value, why is policy an after-thought under the auspices of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport?

This brief should be a key component of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – a Ministry which should be at the front and centre of the country’s recovery plans. Unfortunately, it is not. Perhaps Boris Johnson wasn’t joking when he said ‘f*** business’ – albeit in the context of Brexit.

I HEAR James Mason has taken umbrage at Welcome to Yorkshire being described as the “troubled” tourism agency after he succeeded Sir Gary Verity as chief executive.

It was mired in scandals over bullying. Its finances were in freefall and dependent on taxpayer bailouts. Even Mr Mason says: “I’m playing the game of survival now for Welcome to Yorkshire.” What phrase did he expect this newspaper to use? On second thoughts...

NEVERTHELESS, it is encouraging that grassroots tourism adviser Susan Briggs is helping WTY draw up a post-Covid strategy following her essay in The Yorkshire Post last weekend.

Given WTY chair Peter Box wants Yorkshire to be the destination for walkers, how about families nominating their best doorstep walks, and favourite local gem, so they can form part of a county and countrywide campaign to get people out and about when the lockdown is lifted?

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