Covid-19: Politicians can’t hide behind ‘science’ – leader comment

Government ministers are the ones making the decisions about the coronavirus pandemic and must not be allowed to shift blame onto their advisers.

Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said that 'if the science was wrong... I'm not surprised if people then think we made the wrong decision' (Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images)

When a politician says they are “following the science” on Covid-19, it is perhaps meant to be reassuring. However, it is increasingly beginning to sound like an excuse – don’t blame us, blame the scientists.

In an interview with Sky News’ Kay Burley, UK Cabinet minister Theresa Coffey was pressed to say whether “in hindsight” the Government had “got it wrong” over how to protect care homes. “You can only make judgements and decisions based on the information and advice that you have at the time,” the minister replied. “If the science was wrong, the advice at the time was wrong, I’m not surprised if people then think we made a wrong decision.”

While 10 Downing Street later distanced itself from the remarks, leading scientists had already been warning politicians against using ‘science’ as a shield against criticism. Sir Adrian Smith, the incoming president of the Royal Society, told the Times the idea ministers were “simply doing what scientists tell us” was wrong, partly because of the “extraordinary amounts of uncertainty” in dealing with a new virus. Professor Brian Cox also said the public’s trust in science could be undermined if politicians managed to shift the blame.

It is becoming obvious that poor decisions were made about Covid-19 tests. In a letter to Boris Johnson, the Commons’ Science and Technology Committee said “one of the most significant problems” in the handling of the pandemic so far had been the “inadequate” testing capacity. It was “not increased early enough or boldly enough. Capacity drove strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity.” The Committee noted that “as far back as February” the World Health Organisation had urged countries to immediately increase testing facilities.

One consequence of the UK’s failure to respond quickly had been that care home residents and staff could not be tested “at a time when the spread of the virus was at its most rampant”, the Committee added, noting Government scientific advisers were among those echoing the need for more tests.

So it is far from clear that truly “following the science” would have led the UK to more than 41,000 suspected Covid deaths. And, particularly when the science is uncertain, the buck will always stop with the people we have elected to provide leadership and exercise good judgement in a life-and-death crisis.