Today's Headlines

At the daily press conference yesterday the new figures including deaths in all settings were released.

• As we finally see the Government's revised figures of how many people have tragically lost their lives to coronavirus, the sheer scale of this human disaster is becoming clearer.
• Tens of thousands of people right across the country will be mourning the loss of a loved one, and not only do they deserve answers, but the Government must ensure lessons are learnt.
• Yet even these new figures may not reveal the full picture and size of the disaster as calculations by analysts using data from the Office for National Statistics suggest the actual figure may be higher still.
• Whatever the truth, the case for an independent public inquiry once this crisis is over could not be stronger. There is no excuse for the Government's refusal to commit to an official review into their response to this pandemic.
• Whether it is the scandalous lack of protective equipment for our frontline workers, the current failure to properly test, trace and isolate, or the true number of deaths, the Government must not only be held to account, but step up and solve these crises as quickly as possible.

Home Office must give frontline workers certainty over right to stay

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to automatically extend all visas beyond the end of May and to give all NHS and social care workers indefinite leave to remain, following the Home Office's announcement yesterday of one-year visa extensions for certain health and care staff.

• The Liberal Democrats have secured cross-party support from Labour, Conservative, SNP, Green and Alliance MPs for their campaign to grant indefinite leave to remain to foreign nationals working in the NHS during the coronavirus crisis.
• The coronavirus crisis is an unprecedented threat, and we owe enormous thanks to all the NHS staff, social care workers and other health professionals are who are putting themselves in harm's way to keep us and our loved ones safe.
• Yesterday's announcement is welcome, but a one-year extension simply isn't enough, especially given the Home Secretary's inability to give any clarity about who exactly it applies to. And thousands of other people, including many working on the frontline, are not covered at all by this announcement and face their visas expiring in just a few weeks.
• The Home Office must extend everyone's visas until this crisis is over. Forcing people to leave the country in June would be impractical and inhumane."And all health and social care workers on the frontline of this crisis must be given indefinite leave to remain. It should be unthinkable that any of them would be forced to leave the country after their service to it.

Windrush Compensation Scheme should be taken out of hands of Home Office

Yesterday it was reported that over a thousand applications to the Windrush Compensation Scheme are still yet to be considered by the Home Office.

• The treatment of the Windrush Generation by the Home Office has been and continues to be absolutely appalling. Those awaiting a decision, in some cases for over a year, have been left in anxious limbo at a time when the Government should be bending over backwards to support applicants.
• It is abundantly clear that the Home Office is out of its depth. The Windrush Compensation Scheme should be taken out of the hands of this Department.
• The Government needs to restore public confidence and build a fair immigration system that treats everyone with dignity and respect. That's why the Liberal Democrats are calling for the Hostile Environment to be scrapped altogether.

Govt must publish plan for reopening schools now

The Liberal Democrats yesterday warned the Education Secretary needs a clear and transparent plan agreement with individual schools before schools can be reopened, and has called on the Government to publish its plan now.

• The calls follows the Education Secretary confirming a plan was in place to the Education Select Committee this morning. The Liberal Democrats want the the Government to follow the lead of Wales' Lib Dem education secretary, Kirsty Williams, who earlier this week published 5 guiding principles for determining how and when Welsh schools should reopen.
• Once again, Kirsty Williams in Wales is showing the Department for Education the way. Her five point plan for reopening schools is exactly what we need in England. The Government should publish its plan, now we know there is one, as confirmed by the Education Secretary this morning.
• Reopening schools can't be a top-down affair. The number and type of risks is complex and will differ from school to school. The Government needs to work with school leaders now, not later, to put this in place ahead of time. Only when school staff have the PPE they need, as per their risk assessment, should they be able to reopen.
• The Liberal Democrats are calling for the Government to publish its plan for reopening schools in England and to work with schools urgently to begin risk assessing so that the danger to children, staff and parents when they do reopen is minimised.

Home Office inaction risks COVID-19 crisis at detention centres

Yesterday the Government's response to the Annual inspection of 'Adults at Risk in Immigration Detention' (2018-19) was published.

• Locking people up for months on end - without giving them any idea how long they'll be detained - is clearly inhumane. It's also expensive and unnecessary.
• The Conservative Government's refusal to act with urgency on vulnerable people in immigration detention is unacceptable. It is shameful that Ministers took nine months to publish and respond to the independent inspector's report, and that they refused to accept even its relatively timid recommendations.
• During the coronavirus pandemic, the Home Office's inaction is even more dangerous. Given the risks of outbreaks within detention centres and zero chance of anyone being deported at the moment, the Home Secretary must release all detainees to prevent a COVID-19 crisis in UK detention centres.
• Liberal Democrats will continue fighting for an end to indefinite detention and for detention itself to be an absolute last resort. That will save taxpayers millions and ensure people are treated with more dignity.