A CROSS-PARTY group of council leaders has called on Health Secretary Matt Hancock to scrap privateers’ contracts in the coronavirus test-and trace-scheme.

The Labour, Green and Tory council leaders said that Mr Hancock should fund local public-health teams to run the system instead. 

Three-quarters of the British public agree, with just 14 per cent saying they want it run privately, according to a poll conducted by Survation and commissioned by campaign group We Own It.