Matt Hancock urged to distance himself from report which found ‘nothing special’ about NHS response to Covid

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Labour is calling on Matt Hancock to hand back donations totalling £32,000 which he received from the chair of a thinktank which today published a report saying there was “nothing special” in the NHS’s performance in the coronavirus pandemic. “What is safe to say is that there is no rational basis for the adulation the NHS is currently receiving, and no reason to be ‘grateful’ for the fact that we have it.” If Britain used a Taiwan-style public health insurance or German-style social health insurance system, there was “no guarantee that this would have served the UK better during the pandemic, but there is certainly no reason to believe that it would have done any worse”, the report concluded. “There is nothing special about the NHS, neither during this pandemic, nor at any other time.” In her letter to Mr Hancock, Ms Rayner said: “This disgraceful attack on our NHS comes in the middle of a deadly global pandemic after our NHS staff have worked round the clock for almost a year to tackle this dreadful virus, save lives and keep us all safe.” She said: “As health secretary, it is your job to protect and defend our country’s greatest institution – our National Health Service – and stand up for our NHS staff who have sacrificed so much throughout this pandemic to save lives and keep us safe. “If you are committed to the protection of our NHS you must take action immediately to assure NHS staff and the British people that you don’t share the views of your donors at the Institute of Economic Affairs that we should not be grateful for the NHS or thank the NHS and its staff for their work during this pandemic.” There was no immediate response from Mr Hancock’s office to a request from The Independent for comment on Ms Rayner’s letter.