Matt Hancock asked by Speaker if he wants to leave chamber after interrupting Keir Starmer
Rebuke came during PMQs
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Your support makes all the difference.Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has been rebuked by the Commons Speaker during prime minister’s questions.
Mr Hancock was asked if he wanted to leave the chamber during the exchange.
Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle told Mr Hancock off after he advised the prime minister in the Commons chamber, saying he would be “more than happy” for him to leave the chamber and be replaced with someone else.
Earlier Boris Johnson had praised Mr Hancock, as he told the Commons the UK is now testing more “than virtually any country in Europe”.
He said: “Thanks to the hard work of my right honourable friend (Mr Hancock) and his teams we will get up to 200,000 tests in the country by the end of this month.”
As Mr Johnson was facing questions from the Labour leader, the Commons Speaker halter proceedings to tell Mr Hancock: “I don’t mind you advising the prime minister, but you don’t need to advise the opposition during this”.
The Health Secretary was then told he could leave the chamber if he wished.
Mr Hancock has come under increasing pressure over the government’s response to the global pandemic.
The Health Secretary was initially praised for an ambitious target to increase the number of tests carried out every day to 100,000.
However, he faced criticism when it emerged that the target had been met – but only by counting home testing kits sent to patients and not necessarily used.
Mr Johnson has also announced a target to increase the UK’s testing capacity to up to 200,000 a day by the end of this month.
Mr Hancock is also facing questions over delays to a much heralded NHS app, designed to help trace those who may have come in contact with someone suffering from coronavirus.
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