Watch – How is Dido Harding still in job? As it is revealed private consultants paid £7,000 a DAY

As the new three-tiered system is brought in to try and stem the increase in Covid cases, the number of infections is still growing at an alarming rate.

Nottingham continues to have the highest rate in England, with 3,179 new cases recorded in the seven days to October 10 – the equivalent of 954.9 cases per 100,000 people.

This is a huge jump from 510.7 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to October 3.

Knowsley has the second highest rate, which has climbed from 563.4 to 701.3, with 1,058 new cases.

Liverpool is in third place, where the rate has increased from 555.4 to 677.5, with 3,374 new cases.

The rate in Manchester has fallen from 583.3 to 477.5, with 2,640 new cases recorded.

Harding

Discussing the worrying increase in cases Labour MP for Rhondda, Chris Bryant let his feelings known about the trace and trace system and the person who runs it.

He told the House of Commons that “the tracing system has been a complete disaster. The target the Government set was 80 per cent. They have never met it in a single week.

“Last week was the worst result ever. I do not understand why Baroness Harding is still in a job. The is an absolute mystery to me. I think is it a constitutional aberration that a member of the House of Lords, who votes on party political issues, is also working effectively as a Civil Servant.

“I hate the concept of ‘world beating’ every time the Prime Minister tries to look Churchillian he looks like Neville Chamberlain to me. Lockdowns are a sign of failure to me but I bet that’s where we will end up.”

Consultants

As Bryant’s comments rang around the House of Commons it was revealed that private sector consultants are being paid around £7,000 a day by the Government to try and help run the test and trace system.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was paid about £10 million for around 40 consultants to provide four months’ work between the end of April and late August, according to Sky News.

BCG day rates for public sector work range from £2,400 to £7,360 for the most senior consultants.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The figures being spent on this broken system are truly shocking.”

He added: “Testing and contact tracing is failing to keep the virus under control, which makes it even more disgraceful that such huge sums of money are being spent on something that isn’t fit for purpose.”