MILLIONAIRE Premier League footballers should “play their part” in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and take a pay cut, Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, has insisted.
His challenge came at the daily Downing St press briefing when the minister pointed to the sacrifices many people were making, not least the “heroic” staff in the NHS.
Asked if it was moral for Premier League clubs to refuse to cut the salaries of soccer stars while cutting those of non-playing staff on furloughs, Mr Hancock said: “Everybody needs to play their part in this national effort and that means Premier League footballers too.”
He added: "Given the sacrifices that many people are making, including some of my colleagues in the NHS who have made the ultimate sacrifice of going into work and have caught the disease and have sadly died, the first thing that Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part."
It is estimated that the average pay of a Premier League player is £3 million a year. Manchester City’s squad are said to be the highest earners, taking home more than double that at £7m a year.
As the pandemic rages across Europe, Barcelona players have taken a 70 per cent pay cut while Juventus players have agreed to freeze their pay for four months. Players at Germany’s top clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have agreed to a pay cut.
At present, the Premier League is suspended because of the Covid-19 outbreak until at least April 30 with players told to self-isolate.
Mr Hancock’s Conservative colleague Julian Knight, who chairs the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, has condemned the actions of Premier League clubs, which have furloughed non-playing staff, saying it exposed the “moral vacuum” at the heart of the English game.
Tottenham, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Norwich have opted to utilise the Government's job retention scheme.
Last night, Mr Knight urged Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to slap a windfall tax on Premier League clubs, which refused to cut the salaries of high-earning players. He argued the money could be used to reimburse non-playing staff.
“We are facing an obscene situation where top players who aren’t working are continuing to see hundreds of thousands of pounds roll in each week while the staff who keep the clubs going are losing wages.
“If the Premier League isn’t going to act to resolve this crisis then the Government must step in by imposing a significant financial penalty on clubs to reimburse those hit hardest in the pocket.”
Players at Championship leaders Leeds United have volunteered to take a wage deferral while Birmingham City players who earn more than £6,000 a week have been asked to take a 50 per cent cut for the next four months.
At the press conference, the Secretary of State, under severe pressure over the slowness of virus testing compared to some other countries, “set the goal” of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month.
He also said the Government would be using commercial partners, including universities and private businesses, to establish more swab testing.
And he announced more than £13 billion of historic NHS debt would be written off to place trusts in a "stronger position" to respond to the coronavirus crisis.
Setting out a new "five-pillar" strategy, he said England would hit 100,000 tests per day, which could be made up of antigen tests - that tell people if they currently have the virus - as well as antibody tests – that tell people if they have previously had the infection.
Mr Hancock, who has recovered from Covid-19 and came out of self-isolation on Thursday, said he came back "redoubled in my determination to fight this virus with everything I've got”
He declared: “We will strain every sinew to defeat it once and for all. And I will stop at nothing to make sure frontline staff have the right equipment so they are safe and can have the confidence they need to do their jobs."
The Cabinet minister defended his decision to prioritise testing of patients over NHS staff and said he thought any Health Secretary would have done the same.
"I understand why NHS staff want tests, so they can get back to the front line, of course I do. But I took the decision that the first priority has to be the patients for whom the results of a test could be the difference in treatment that is the difference between life and death.
"I believe anybody in my shoes would have taken the same decision," insisted Mr Hancock.
Pressed on the lower number of tests than other countries, he explained that the UK lacked a large diagnostics industry so was having to build from a "lower base" than the likes of Germany, which is testing at greater levels for coronavirus.
The Secretary of State said a country-wide shortage of swabs had been "resolved" but that there remained a "global challenge" around sourcing the reagent chemicals needed for the tests.
He made clear all NHS staff would be able to get tested for Covid-19 "absolutely before the end of the month".
Mr Hancock revealed the Government was working with nine potential providers on a new antibody test - which many have described as a “game-changer” to releasing the lockdown - but that this would only be rolled out when clinicians were fully confident it was a valid test.
Meanwhile, No 10 said Boris Johnson was still showing coronavirus symptoms. The Prime Minister’s seven days of isolation are due to end on Friday.
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