ONE RULE FOR THEM!
With quarter of UK plunged into local lockdown, MP ignores test and brings Covid to Commons — after Corbyn breaks ‘rule of six’
AN MP was forced to issue an extraordinary apology last night for breaking virus rules – just as local restrictions were extended to cover 16million people.
The SNP’s Margaret Ferrier had the whip immediately suspended after she admitted travelling 800 miles from Scotland to Westminster and back while infected.
It came as Jeremy Corbyn was forced to say sorry for breaching the ‘rule of six’, while Boris Johnson’s father Stanley had to apologise after he was seen shopping without a face covering. Miss Ferrier’s ‘utterly indefensible’ actions triggered a major alert in Parliament, and a rush to trace those she had been in contact with in the Commons.
Yesterday, the MP – who travelled to London despite having symptoms then returned despite testing positive – apologised unreservedly and said she had notified the police of her actions.
But the furore left her facing the prospect of a hefty fine and triggered calls for her resignation. It came on a day when Matt Hancock extended local lockdown-style restrictions to a string of new areas, leaving 16.6million people in the UK – 26 per cent of the population – living under stringent rules.
The Health Secretary introduced the measures, which ban separate households from mixing indoors, despite acknowledging that the growth in Covid cases may be starting to slow, with the
R rate falling. The Government faced a revolt last night, with the elected mayor of Middlesbrough becoming the first local leader to declare his opposition to the rules. Andy Preston said they were ‘draconian’ and threatened people’s livelihoods.
Middlesbrough was one of the four areas hit with new restrictions on socialising yesterday, along with Liverpool, Warrington and Hartlepool.
Disquiet about the patchwork of rules across the country was growing yesterday, with many questioning the logic and clarity of the regulations.
It is thought talks on new restrictions for London could be held next week, with the capital said to be at a ‘tipping point’. The row came as:
Ministers are on the brink of introducing a ‘traffic light’ system to make local measures easier to understand;
They announced that travellers from Turkey, Poland and three Caribbean islands would have to quarantine;
A businessman launched a legal bid to prevent the Government’s latest lockdown laws coming into effect;
Ministers admitted secretly preparing for four million people to join the ranks of the unemployed;
It emerged that nearly 200 Manchester University students had tested positive for Covid-19 in just two days this week;
Officials tried to reassure the nation on flu jab shortages, saying they would go to those most in need by December;
Leading dentists said surgeries must not be shut down in a second wave; n A further 59 deaths and 6,914 cases were recorded.
Last night, the SNP suspended the whip from Miss Ferrier, the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West. Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘ This is utterly indefensible. It’s hard to express just how angry I feel.’
Mr Corbyn faced calls to be fined from his own party after he breached the ‘rule of six’ limit on social gatherings.
The former Labour leader was pictured at a dinner with eight others last weekend. The party’s mental health spokesman Rosena Allin-Khan said he should face the £200 penalty for breaching the rule as a first offence.
Stanley Johnson, 80, was pictured in a newsagent in west London without a mask on Tuesday. He later apologised for the ‘slip up’ and explained he may not have been ‘100 per cent up to speed’ with current rules as he had just returned from overseas.
In a Commons statement yesterday, Mr Hancock acknowledged a major Imperial College London study that suggested the growth in Covid cases may be starting to slow.
He said it estimated the crucial R rate to be at 1.1, down from 1.7 a few days earlier. Mr Hancock said this provided ‘early signs the actions we have collectively taken are starting to have a positive effect’.
Meanwhile, it was reported last night that in 11 out of 16 English cities and towns where restrictions were imposed nine weeks ago, the infection rate had at least doubled, with cases in five areas of Greater Manchester rising faster than the England average in that time.
Nevertheless, Mr Hancock insisted yesterday that further actions were necessary, warning that allowing the virus to ‘let rip’ would mean ‘hundreds of thousands of deaths’.
As a result, he said Liverpool, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough would become the latest areas subjected to local coronavirus lockdowns, following similar restrictions imposed in the North East earlier this week.
Councillor Shane Moore, leader of Hartlepool Council, said last night: ‘This will have a seriously detrimental effect on people’s mental health and also have a devastating impact on local businesses, and we would urge ministers to think again.’
Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough, added: ‘We need to press the pause button and have a discussion.’
Steve Rotheram, metro mayor of Liverpool City Region, demanded ‘scientific evidence’ to justify the enhanced restrictions.
Mr Hancock also faced fury when he announced the new measures in the Commons.
Emma Lewell-Buck, Labour MP for South Shields, a constituency slapped with restrictions earlier in the week, said: ‘When will this Government start to understand that a balance needs to be struck, to protect those most at risk without complete societal shutdown?’
Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria and parts of Cheshire were yesterday added to the official coronavirus watchlist.
Luton, Wakefield and Rotherham were upgraded to ‘areas of concern’, while Sheffield was escalated to an area of ‘enhanced support’.
INSULATED from Covid’s grim economic reality by massive state-funded handouts, few have questioned the Government’s draconian restrictions on our freedoms.
Now though, discontent is erupting. Extending a raft of punishing controls, including a ban on socialising with friends and visiting loved ones in care homes, Matt Hancock has copped a ferocious backlash.
Leading the charge was Middlesbrough’s mayor, accusing the health secretary of introducing measures based on ‘inaccuracies and ignorance’. Bluntly, the Mail is surprised it took so long.
For a creeping patchwork of local clampdowns have been imposed, covering a quarter of the population – 16.6million people – in a striking north-south divide.
No discussion, no scrutiny – just a rubberstamp by the Prime Minister and his coterie of unelected flunkies.
Not only is the mish- mash of laws ludicrous (you can work with colleagues, but not go for a pint), but there has been no scientific explanation for them.
Swelling numbers believe the Government is exaggerating the danger. Covid deaths, hospital admissions and infections are a molehill compared to spring’s mountain.
And there has been no evaluation of the colossal cost of closing down swathes of the country in terms of economy, jobs, health and quality of life. All to eradicate a virus harming a tiny fraction of people.
Voters are also rightly furious that MPs such as the SNP’s Margaret Ferrier, who indefensibly travelled to Scotland after a positive test, openly flout regulations. It’s one rule for them, and one rule for us.
So far there is only a trickle of public dissatisfaction over Boris Johnson’s handling of the pandemic. He must beware it doesn’t become a flood.