Andrew Neil gives brutal assessment of government's 'scandalous' handling of coronavirus

When Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan asked BBC journalist Andrew Neil to give a report card on the government’s handling of coronavirus, he didn’t hold back.

Morgan asked the 70-year-old broadcaster:

What is your overview of how the UK has handled this?

Taking a deep breath, Neil unleashed:

I think when you look at whether it’s testing, the time that we went into lockdown, what has happened in care homes – where there has been a crisis, if not the makings of a national scandal – and some of the conflicting guidance that seems to be coming from the government. And then in the end, the deaths themselves from this, which every way you cut it and then compare it to other equivalent countries – France, Italy, Germany, Spain and so on – the British record, I don’t think you could argue is great at all.

In terms of excess deaths, the number of deaths that have taken place since this virus broke out compared to a five year average, we are among the worst, if not the worst. So I don’t think people will be coming to us to learn how to cope with the virus. ​

People on social media agreed the government’s handling of the pandemic has not been up to scratch:

During the segment, Neil also agreed with Morgan that it was important for the public to be able to understand why the government is making the decisions they are.

He said:

There is no reason why everything shouldn’t be out in the open and scientists and experts should be as subject to transparency as ministers should be.

The damning segment comes amidst a boycott from the government of the popular morning show.

It has now been 22 days since any member of the government appeared on the show.

At the time of writing, almost 250,000 people have contracted coronavirus in the UK, with 35,341 deaths.