Sara Britcliffe

Hyndburn MP

LIKE many millions of people up and down the country, I watched the final last weekend and underwent the full rollercoaster of emotions.

The joy at the early goal, the concern as Italy pressed, the shock of the equaliser, the nerves of extra time and the heartbreak of penalties.

England may not have won but to get into the first final since 1966 is a huge achievement and with a young team which will get better and better for years to come.

I hope that when Gareth Southgate, the players and all the staff woke on Monday morning they realised how proud we all are of them. The World Cup is next year and so the dream continues!

This week I had the pleasure of welcoming the Minister for Children, Vicky Ford MP, to Oswaldtwistle School.

After speaking to both the teachers and pupils we joined their RSHE lesson and saw what vital good these lessons were doing for our young people.

All the pupils that we met said how supported they felt by the brilliant staff and, now more than ever, it is absolutely vital that we do all that we can to support young people through education as we recover from the pandemic.

And finally, as we heard this week, we will still be moving out of restrictions on July 19. Although cases continue to rise, the number of people being admitted to hospital or sadly dying remains relatively low.

It is becoming clear that we have weakened the link between cases and serious illness has been weakened though not broken entirely.

I know there has been a fair bit of debate about whether the removal of all the remaining Covid measures is right and whether we are progressing at the right pace.

This is an important question and something I have considered carefully. For me, this is not about going mad and hugging everyone in the street or packing into a crowded train. This is about restoring to the population of this country their ability to make decisions and manage risk without Government diktat.

We need to move away from the idea that the Government should be looked to for decision making, and personal responsibility must be restored.

For example, I won’t wear my mask as much as I do at the moment, but I will still carry it with me and will not hesitate to put it on if I feel the circumstances warrant it.

I know that some want us to pursue some sort of ‘zero Covid’ strategy, keeping restrictions until the cases are zero. This would be hugely damaging to our economy and the fabric of our society and would take years to achieve. We are going to have to learn to live with Covid at some point, it isn’t going away.

Please, if you haven’t been vaccinated, book an appointment and, from the 19th, continue to exercise caution and sensible judgement.