UK Minister Denies Government Tried to Frighten Public Into Following Lockdown Rules

Police officers arrest a protestor during an anti-CCP virus lockdown demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster in central London on Jan. 6, 2021. Tolga Akmen / AFP via Getty Images

A minister has denied that the UK government tried to scare the public into following COVID-19 lockdown rules after leaked messages suggest that former Health Secretary Matt Hancock wanted to “frighten the pants off everyone” in order to ensure compliance.

The latest set of WhatsApp exchanges, published in The Sunday Telegraph, shows how Hancock and other officials discussed using an announcement about the Kent variant of the virus to scare the public into changing their behaviour.