I rebelled on vote to avoid being in constant state of fear, says MP
A YORKSHIRE Conservative MP has warned Ministers against shifting the country to a “constant state of fear” as he revealed why he rebelled against Government plans to extend coronavirus laws for a further six months.
York Outer MP Julian Sturdy was one of three Tory MPs in the region, along with David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) and Philip Davies (Shipley), who defied the Government over the prolonging of the “draconian” powers handed to Ministers for a further six months.
Measures to implement Boris Johnson’s “road map” out of lockdown, in which restrictions will be eased in a series of stages over the coming months, were passed in the Commons on Thursday without a vote.
But a string of Tory MPs refused to back a six-month extension to wide-ranging emergency powers contained in the Coronavirus Act after Health Secretary Matt Hancock was unable to say whether they would definitely expire after that.
Some 76 MPs voted to oppose the extension of the laws, although the measure passed with a majority of 408.
Mr Sturdy said the restrictions go “far beyond the end of the Government’s road map for lifting all legal limits on social contact from June 21 and long after all those at serious risk from Covid have been covered by vaccination and therefore represents an unnecessary prolonging of extraordinary and damaging restraints on everyday life”.
He said: “Of course Government must always have the necessary measures to tackle the virus but with the amazing success of the vaccination programme I no longer think it is right to hand enormous powers to Ministers and civil servants for such long periods of time.
“Fundamentally, I rebelled because now we are through the worst of the pandemic and have the vaccine we need to prevent any normalisation of emergency Government powers and shift to a constant state of fear.”