The Guardian understands the blocked text related to SPI–B’s criticism about possible government proposals around that time. In the version published on Sage’s government website, almost a page and a half of text was heavily redacted. The report, from 1 April, summarised SPI-B’s discussions about how to handle possible changes to the social distancing measures that had just been introduced to slow the spread of Covid-19. Photograph: No CreditĪt least one scientific adviser is understood to be considering resigning over the government’s secretive approach to science around the Covid-19 outbreak, which they believe is undermining public trust. Members of the committee have been discussing among themselves how best to respond to the redaction, which they believe was a heavy-handed move that jeopardises their independence.Ī page of the redacted text from the report. You want trust? You need to be open with people. “The greatest asset we have in this crisis is the trust and adherence of the public. “Personally, I am more bemused than furious,” said Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews. On Friday afternoon, after the Guardian revealed frustrations over the redacted report, another member of the government’s advisory committee took to Twitter to complain of what he said was “Stalinist” censorship. One SPI-B adviser said: “It is bloody silly, and completely counterproductive.” A second committee member said: “The impression I’m getting is this government doesn’t want any criticism.” Several SPI–B members told the Guardian that the redacted portions of the document contained criticisms they had made of potential government policies they had been formally asked to consider in late March and early April. However, large blocks of text in the report, produced by SPI-B, the Sage subcommittee providing advice from behavioural scientists on how the public might respond to lockdown measures, were entirely blanked out.
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