has defended his government. we put india on the red list, mr speaker, on april the 23rd, and the delta variant was not so identified until april the 28th, mr speaker, and was only identified as a variant of concern on may the 7th. this is all true. but it s also true that the role of variants in india s crisis was known earlier in april, and that people in mid april were urging the prime minister to act. and whatever the rights and wrongs of the government s decision, borisjohnson was following a pattern. at the start of the pandemic, he locked down england later than many european countries. in the autumn, he locked down later than his scientific advisers suggested. in december, he resisted calls for more restrictions at christmas, then changed his mind. and again here, he acted later than he might have. the question is what was the impact of doing that?
the sunday times estimates that 20,000 people arrived in the uk from india in the first three weeks of the month. but again, this week, borisjohnson has defended his government. we put india on the red list, mr speaker, on april the 23rd, and the delta variant was not so identified until april the 28th, mr speaker, and was only identified as a variant of concern on may the 7th. this is all true. but it s also true that the role of variants in india s crisis was known earlier in april, and that people in mid april were urging the prime minister to act. and whatever the rights and wrongs of the government s decision, borisjohnson was following a pattern. at the start of the pandemic, he locked down england later than many european countries. in the autumn, he locked down later than his scientific advisers suggested. in december, he resisted calls for more restrictions at christmas, then changed his mind.
and rapidly escalating crisis. and within days, the government would change tack. had changed tack. this press release on the 19th of april announced. it noted. certainly, there was a high volume in april. the sunday times estimates that 20,000 people arrived in the uk from india in the first three weeks of the month. but again, this week, borisjohnson has defended his government. we put india on the red list, mr speaker, on april the 23rd, and the delta variant was not so identified until april the 28th, mr speaker, and was only identified as a variant of concern on may the 7th. this is all true. but it s also true that the role of variants in india s crisis was known earlier in april, and that people in mid april were