The Lib Dems have launched a campaign calling for a ‘Frontline Support Package’, a five-point plan to give frontline workers the support they need and the recognition they deserves as they get us through this appalling coronavirus crisis.

Acting Leader of the Lib Dems Ed Davey thanked the “army of workers protecting us” in hospitals, care homes and hospices and asked the Government to support these “coronavirus heroes” properly.

The package proposed by the Lib Dems includes measures to scale up the procurement of PPE, a frontline service reward and a deployment allowance of £29 per day in line with the Operational Allowance Armed Forces personnel deployed to dangerous areas.

In our hospitals, care homes, hospices and in the wider health and care sector, an army of workers are protecting us in this national struggle.  The Lib Dems believe the Government must support these coronavirus heroes properly.

The top priority for frontline staff is protection.  We should never ask our military to risk their lives without the proper kit, and we shouldn’t be leaving health and care workers without sufficient protective kit either.  It is simply unacceptable that so many key workers do not have the equipment they need to protect them from coronavirus in the line of duty.  The Government must do far more.

When the country emerges from this crisis, we must properly recognise those who were willing to serve and make a sacrifice, just as we do with military forces.  The Government must look at creating a frontline service reward, similar to the deployment allowance frontline troops receive.

Quietly, key workers on the frontline every day undertake acts of bravery both big and small, to save lives.  The Lib Dems and I are campaigning so they get the protection and support now – and get the recognition and thanks they deserve when the epidemic has passed.