UK Will Never Surrender Powers to WHO, Says Minister

The Conservative government would “never” sign away sovereignty to the World Health Organisation (WHO) or allow it to force the UK into imposing national responses to pandemics, a Cabinet minister has said. Minister without portfolio Esther McVey wrote in The Telegraph on Saturday that it remains the “constitutional right” of nations to make their own decisions on how to respond to national health emergencies, and said that ceding sovereignty is a “red line” for her and her Cabinet colleagues. She said while she knew Britons might be concerned that international bodies “could acquire powers to force countries to adopt measures and restrictions,” she said, “my ministerial colleagues and I would never give over any such powers to any organisation, including the World Health Organization.”...