Brexiteer MP blasted after suggesting coronavirus was not a risk to country’s ‘collective health’

Tweeting the prime minister’s words from Tuesday night’s televised address, the i’s policy editor, Jane Merrick, wrote: “Boris Johnson: ‘Never in our history has our collective destiny and our collective health depended so completely on our individual behaviour.’

“He’s right. Whatever you think about him, his government, his party or his policies, I hope people heed these words. This is on all of us.”

Allen replied, tersely: “Our collective health is not at risk.”

This prompted a wave of backlash online with many users calling on Allen, who supports a no-deal Brexit, to resign.

“This is wrong on many levels. The virus risks many, the effects of not being able to treat others if the NHS is overwhelmed (as it was close to in April) risks many more. Control the virus, and the harms will be minimised,” intensive care consultant Andy Conway Morris said.

Andrew Campling wrote: “A possible 50k infections and 200 deaths a day by mid October, 300k people suffering the after-effects of infection after a month, 60k after 3 months etc. What do you disagree with?”

Writer Mike Buckley added: “Lucy, where’ve you been for the past 9 months?”

“Nearly 42k deaths and over 400k confirmed infections since March. But who needs facts, right?,” Dan Reast quipped.

Chris Chilton wrote: “You judge a society by how it looks after the weak, not how it looks after the wealthy.

“If the health of the weak is at risk then our collective health IS at risk.”

Another user said: “It’s hard for people like Lucy to comprehend the notion of looking out for others, when your entire belief system is based on individuals its easy to see why.”