34 million worse off than before lockdown
PM facing Tory rebellion over ‘unfair’ tiers, and may be left relying on Labour’s support
BORIS JOHNSON is facing a Tory rebellion after the Government’s “authoritarian” and “unfair” new tier system left 34 million people f acing t ougher restrictions than before lockdown.
MPS were described as being “in open revolt” after 98 per cent of England’s population were placed in Tiers 2 and 3, with only Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Scilly Isles put in the lowest level.
Mr Johnson defended the measures saying they were necessary to prevent a “New Year national lockdown”.
More than 23 million people, including in large swathes of the Midlands, the North East and North West, were placed in the most restrictive Tier 3, with almost all household mixing banned and bars and restaurants limited to takeaways and deliveries. A further 32 million were placed in Tier 2, which bans household mixing indoors and only allows pubs and restaurants to sell alcohol with a “substantial” meal.
In total, 34.1 million people (61 per cent of the population) were moved into a higher tier than that which they were in before the second national lockdown began on Nov 5. More than 55 million people in England are in Tiers 2 and 3, which have even tougher rules this time around. Mr Johnson faces a revolt when the measures are put to a vote on Tuesday, the day before they come into force.
Depending on the scale of the Tory opposition, the Prime Minister may rely on Labour votes to get the measures through. Labour last night refused to confirm how its MPS would vote.
Speaking in Downing Street after emerging from 14 days in self-isolation, Mr Johnson said: “I know this will bring a great deal of heartache and frustration, especially for our vital hospitality sector – our pubs, our restaurants, our hotels, in so many ways the soul of our communities – which continue to bear a disproportionate share of the burden.
“I really wish it were otherwise, but if we are to keep schools open – as we must – then our options in bearing down on the disease are necessarily limited.”
The new system came after the Government announced the rules would be relaxed from Dec 23 to 27 to allow up to three households to meet for Christmas.
But despite guidance suggesting there would be no need to maintain social distancing within a Christmas bubble, Prof Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, warned: “Would I encourage someone to hug and kiss their elderly relatives? No I would not… if you want them to survive to be hugged again.”
Liverpool, Warrington and Cheshire were the only areas to move from Tier 3 to Tier 2 thanks largely to mass testing.
London was placed in Tier 2 after the Prime Minister, a former mayor of the capital, overruled Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, who had insisted the city should be in Tier 3 at a meeting of the Cabinet’s Covid Operations subcommittee on Wednesday. Shires in Conservative strongholds such as Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and Dorset, all previously in Tier 1, will move up a level, prompting anger. Some southern areas, including Kent, Slough, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, went from Tier 1 to 3, the toughest measures, along with Warwickshire and Leicestershire. Most of the North East joined Greater Manchester, Lancashire, the Humber and most of Yorkshire in Tier 3.
Northern mayors reacted angrily, with Sheffield’s Dan Jarvis warning “lockdown must not become limbo” and Manchester’s Andy Burnham calling for “a strong cross-party appeal” against the “devastating” measures he said would “cause real hardship”. Mark Harper, leader of the 70-strong Covid Research Group of lockdown sceptic backbenchers, called for the Government to publish the impact assessments and modelling that supported their decision-making.
“There are colleagues who’ve already publicly said they will be voting against these regulations next week. A lot of MPS are unhappy,” he said. “There’s a
feeling we will be stuck in these tiers until the new year”. Steve Baker, his deputy, added: “The authoritarianism at work today is truly appalling.”
The tiers will be reviewed on Dec 16 and fortnightly thereafter, but Prof Whitty warned that areas about to enter Tier 2 and 3 may have to wait until January before dropping to a lower level.
He said many areas would have to wait until vaccines had been approved and a nationwide vaccination programme had begun next spring.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Adviser, said the previous tier system had not managed to decrease the infection rate enough.
He said: “The lockdown looks as if it has flattened it and is sending it downwards and it is important we do bring it down because numbers remain high.”
Last night, Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned of the “enormous” damage to the hospitality sector after the Altus Group suggested more than 31,000 pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes would close under the new measures. Shops, gyms, hairdressers and places of worship can open across all tiers. MPS are also pressuring the Government to make reviews weekly rather than fortnightly and to set up an appeals process.