We need to know how many lives lockdown is destroying – and we need an exit strategy
COVID is a dangerous disease for those who are vulnerable. It’s vital we control it effectively. And that’s why, with fellow MPs, we set up the Covid Recovery Group in early November. We’re determined that our national response to Covid should be rational and balanced, not driven by panic. It should be based on informed scientific, economic and health data, and it should take full account of the health and economic consequences of lockdowns and restrictions – which are serious.
First, we want to know for sure that the draconian new measures announced yesterday are serving their primary purpose of slowing the spread of Covid-19.
If they are not, we would be failing in our duty to protect people from the disease, to protect the NHS from becoming overwhelmed and to protect our economy rather than grinding it needlessly into the dust.
Sadly, we have reason to be sceptical. We had a full national lockdown in England in November. Huge swathes of the UK have been living under heightened restrictions. Yet this strategy is clearly failing to break the transmission of Covid.
If it really was succeeding, we would be talking about an exit strategy from repeated lockdowns or about areas moving down the tiers and levels. Right now, the only way is up.
There is no logic in having a destructive lockdown when the millions of people and businesses who endured it are forced to live and operate under increasingly severe restrictions afterwards.
It is even harder to stomach when there is no transparency or logic from Government about how it has taken its decisions.
These restrictions cause immense social and health damage. People are prevented from seeking the medical treatment they need. Mental well-being declines. Young people find their education, job prospects and life chances diminished. Let’s be blunt: lockdowns – and the soaring debts they incur – cost lives.
The cure we’re prescribing runs the risk of being worse than the disease.
That’s why we have repeatedly asked Government for regional cost-benefit analysis showing the impact on peoples overall health and livelihoods.
Are these restrictions really saving more lives than they cost? It’s a fair and reasonable question for any of us to ask. And this call for evidence applies to the easing of the rules at Christmas, too.
We’ve been told that Covid case numbers will increase with even a minor relaxation in the rules. So what does the evidence suggest we should be doing?
We cannot expect our citizens to tolerate living under a system of laws that changes so frequently, which avoids the usual democratic checks and balances and which is riddled with so much complexity and uncertainty.
We cannot keep living under cycles of lockdowns and restrictions and yet expect people to be grateful for being let out to enjoy the festive season, only to have stricter restrictions imposed on them afterwards.
Parliament must not be bypassed, with rules made and broken by a narrow group of ministers.
We should treat the public like grown-ups and tougher restrictions or further lockdowns should not be on the table simply because people followed rules of the Government’s making.
The best Christmas present the Government could give the nation is a different, enduring and sustainable strategy for living with Covid that lasts beyond Christmas, which doesn’t ask people to pay a heavy price for their freedom.
It’s great news that a vaccine is being rolled out to the most at risk groups around the country.
But as this work begins, it is imperative that the Government sets out how this will translate into
‘There is no transparency from Government about decisions’ ‘It’s time to lead the UK out of the coronavirus crisis and into a positive future’
a return to normal in 2021 for us all. In early December the Health Secretary said that once we have protected vulnerable people, lifting restrictions ‘obviously’ becomes safer to do.
So the Government should be clear about exactly how it will lift restrictions as the vaccine is rolled out and it should be clear about exactly when our freedoms will be fully restored.
Now the Government expects people to sacrifice sharing Christmas with family and friends, just a few days after promising the opposite. Yet restrictions have failed.
The public and Parliament must be trusted with the data and analysis about the full impact these rules are having on people’s lives.
We need a clear exit strategy from this nightmarish cycle of damaging lockdowns.
We need a strategy that slows the spread of Covid and offers hope and optimism for 2021.
It is time to lead the UK out of the coronavirus crisis and into a positive future.