Starmer calls for ‘circuit-breaker’
SIR Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to impose a short “circuit-breaker” lockdown across England to bring the coronavirus resurgence under control.
The Labour leader heaped pressure on to the Prime Minister yesterday after it emerged he dismissed a recommendation for the measure from Government scientists three weeks ago.
In his most dramatic intervention to date, Sir Keir said a two to three-week national lockdown over half term was needed to improve test and trace and prevent a “sleepwalk into a long and bleak winter”.
He told a televised press conference that Mr Johnson was “no longer following the scientific advice” by proposing “far less stringent restrictions” than suggested by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).
Sir Keir said: “There’s no longer time to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt. The Government’s plan simply isn’t working. Another course is needed.”
He said schools must stay open but that all pubs, bars and restaurants should be closed during the circuit-breaker, while firms are compensated so “no business loses out” in order to “break the cycle” of infection.
“If we don’t, we could sleepwalk into a long and bleak winter. That choice is now for the Prime Minister to make. I urge him to do so,” Sir Keir said.
The call came after documents published on Monday evening showed Sage delivered a series of more drastic recommendations than the new three-tier system Mr Johnson has proposed.
In the documents from September 21, the scientists also criticised the Government’s £12bn test and trace system as only having a “marginal impact” on Covid-19 transmission.
Sir Keir said the national lockdown would “reverse” rising infection rates and allow ministers to “rectify” some of their mistakes by handing over test and trace to local authorities.
But he acknowledged it would “require significant sacrifices” including curbs on household mixing and a ban on all but essential work and travel.
Amid unrest on the Tory backbenches, Sir Keir said Labour would support the Government in voting for the measure to stop him needing to “balance the needs of your party against the national interest”.
It comes as the UK recorded the highest daily death figure in four months, with a further 143 people dying within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday.
Meanwhile, MPs approved the Government’s three tier Covid alert level system for England, meaning the restrictions will come into force today.
But junior minister Chris Green, the MP for Bolton West, resigned over Mr Johnson’s lockdown proposals, warning that the “attempted cure is worse than the disease”.
Senior Tory Sir Bernard Jenkin said the local advice in his Harwich and North Essex constituency was that a “short, sharp, shock” would be the best way of tackling the pandemic.