West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock has denied allegations made by former government adviser Dominic Cummings that he told lies while health secretary during the pandemic.

On Wednesday, Mr Cummings told a joint inquiry of the Commons Health and Social Care and Science and Technology Committees that Mr Hancock should have been sacked on multiple occasions.

“I think the secretary of state for health should’ve been fired for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody on multiple occasions in meeting after meeting in the Cabinet Room and publicly,” Mr Cummings said.

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Mr Hancock said that while the allegations were serious, they were also completely untrue.

"These allegations that were put yesterday – and repeated by (shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth) – are serious allegations and I welcome the opportunity to come to the House to put formally on the record that these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true," said Mr Hancock.

“I’ve been straight with people in public and in private throughout.

“We’ve taken an approach of openness, transparency and explanation of both what we know and of what we don’t know.”

Mr Hancock committed to a public inquiry into the pandemic being held in the future.

"It's right at the appropriate time we go through all that has happened," said Mr Hancock.

When asked if the inquiry could be brought forward from its proposed 2022 date, Mr Hancock said no.