KEIR Starmer has refused to back his deputy’s call for Matt Hancock to quit after yet another pandemic-related blunder.
The Labour leader said deputy party chief Angela Rayner had been expressing national "frustration" when she called for the Health Secretary to “consider his position”.
Asked twice if he backed Rayner's stance, Starmer told reporters: "I think Angela was probably expressing a frustration that is deeply felt across the country.
"What I want is for the Government to concentrate on the job in hand and for Matt Hancock and others to get on and deliver what they are promising.
"Because what we get from this Government is very good promises, but not real delivery.
"I think it is time for Matt Hancock to get on with the job of delivering on the Government's promises."
The comments came after Rayner accused Hancock of a "multiple of failures".
The Health Secretary has been under fire this week after it was revealed almost 16,000 coronavirus cases were not recorded in England – delaying contact tracing efforts.
Hancock told MPs a technical problem over the weekend occurred with the system “that brings together” data from NHS test sites and tests processed by commercial firms.
READ MORE: Matt Hancock: Missing case figures chaos ‘shouldn’t have happened’
Speaking to Sky News, Rayner commented: "He should be considering his position. He's had a multiple of failures ever since he took on the role.
"But it is not just a failure of the Health Secretary. It has been a failure of the Chancellor in terms of the support that he has given to businesses. He is winding up the furlough scheme this month.
"The Prime Minister couldn't even tell us what his own communications and his own restrictions were that he put in place.
"So it's not one failure by one minister, it's a constant failure by the front bench of this Government.
"They are a complete shambles and incompetent."
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