Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, responding to evidence given by Dominic Cummings to the Science and Technology Committee, said:

“This is a scathing intervention from Boris Johnson’s former right hand man and most trusted aide.

“To describe the Department of Health and Social Care as a ‘smoking ruin’ is a clear admission of fundamental mistakes that have contributed to us tragically experiencing one of the highest death rates in the world.”