A listener on LBC’s Call Keir asked Starmer this morning whether “you now regret Labour pushing for us to sign up for EU vaccine schemes?” Sir Keir attempted to re-write history when claiming “Labour never pushed for us to be anything to do with the EU vaccine scheme”. Guido’s got receipts that paint a different picture…

Two shadow ministers condemned the PM for not signing up to the scheme: shadow Europe minister Catherine West said it was “dumber and dumber” that the UK opted out; and shadow Brexit minister Paul Blomfield said “Backing the EU initiative for a coronavirus vaccine is a positive step, but we should participate in the EU’s pandemic warning system and the European Medicines Agency too”. Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy went as far as to accuse the government of putting lives at rise “by refusing to join the EU’s vaccine scheme”. 

In 2017 Sir Keir himself delivered two speeches in the Commons in which he claimed it was “short-sighted” wanting to “be outside the European Medicines Agency, which ensures that all medicines in the EU market are safe and effective”, arguing it is the bit of the EU “we should be seeking to retain, not throw away”.

Should have gone to Specsavers…