A senior Tory MP has joined calls for Boris Johnson to ‘immediately’ release documents he was given by scientists during Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) meetings.
William Wragg, one of Johnson’s backbench Brexiteers, urged the prime minister to release the documents in a letter on Monday.
In his capacity as chair of a Commons committee on public administration, Wragg said that parliament should be able to scrutinise SAGE data used by government ministers.
His comments came after his committee took evidence from national statistician professor Sir Ian Diamond.
‘The national statistician, who attends SAGE, told us that he believes government should publish the papers discussed by SAGE,’ Wragg wrote.
‘I am writing to ask you to start publishing those papers immediately.
‘If for any reasons you are unable to publish a paper, I would like you to write outlining what the paper contains and why it cannot be published.’
The MP also lobbied for laws to be changed so that deaths could be recorded electronically within 24 hours.
Documents considered by SAGE are periodically made public but not until after a delay.
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