Ex-chief scientist forms ‘transparent’ committee to advise end of lockdown

Soldiers help to conduct tests at a pop-up covid19 drive-through testing centre in Dalston, Hackney, east London (Picture: Empics)

A former Government scientific advisor has formed his own committee to look at how the UK could leave the coronavirus lockdown.

Sir David King, who worked under Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, said he created the board to emphasise the ‘importance of transparency’.

Concerns have been raised over the current meetings of the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).

The group is informing ministers’ response to the Covid-19 crisis, and the 80-year-old cited the issue of the Prime Minister’s aide, Dominic Cummings, being present at the meetings, saying it could cause ‘confusion’.

He said: ‘I know this is a controversial point, but I certainly think that I would never have had the Prime Minister’s chief strategy adviser on board because I think that it is perfectly feasible to provide clear scientific advice and then for the strategy and the politics to be determined separately.’

Coronavirus latest news and updates

• Visit our live blog for the latest updates: Coronavirus news live
• Read all new and breaking stories on our Covid-19 news page
• The latest coronavirus symptoms explained
• Who needs to go to work, who needs to stay at home and who is classed as a key worker?

Former Government scientific advisor Sir David King (Picture: Rex)

Sir David added he was concerned Cummings’s presence had given Boris Johnson ‘two advisers’ on coronavirus, with ‘a chief scientific adviser giving the advice from Sage and at the same time a strategy adviser who, frankly, is not a scientist and isn’t in a position to summarise that advice’.

Sir David’s new 12-strong committee of academics will convene for the first time on Monday and is keen to investigate seven key points, including how can successful testing and tracing be achieved, and what social distancing measures will be needed in the future.

He said he will share their findings and workings with the public by streaming meetings on YouTube, and reflected on his career working with Government.

Sir David added: ‘If we’re not given access to the science advice it’s very difficult to evaluate that, and by given access I mean, when I was chief scientific adviser I explained to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown that every bit of advice I put into them I would put into the public domain as well.’

The committee will look at how the UK could leave the coronavirus lockdown (Picture: Getty)

Last month top Tories joined the calls for Cummings to be banned from scientific advisory meetings during the coronavirus crisis.

David Davis, former Brexit Secretary, feared the presence of ‘non-scientist members’ could lead to changes in the advice given from the Sage committee.

He said: ‘We should publish the membership of Sage, remove any non-scientist members, publish their advice in full, and publish dissenting opinions with the advice,’ 

Last week, current chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said a partial list of Sage members would be issued ‘shortly’.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8291209 https://ift.tt/2z3hnLy