Rule of six doing more harm than good, warn Tory rebels

TORY MPs last night said the ‘rule of six’ was causing more harm than good as a dozen rebelled to vote against it.

Backbenchers accused the Government of ‘curbing freedoms’ and stopping families from meeting ‘without any justification to do so’.

Tory MP Steve Baker, who abstained from voting, said: ‘I have real concerns about the very high cost of these measures… It’s not clear now that the benefit outweighs the costs of lockdown.

‘We’re hearing about people who are being destroyed by this lockdown; strong, confident people, outgoing people, gregarious people who are being destroyed. This is a devastating social impact on our society and I believe that people would make different choices were they the ones able to take responsibility for themselves.’

Huw Merriman said he feared the rule of six will ‘do more harm than good’.

He told the Commons: ‘I do not see the evidence in terms of how this will reduce the rates of Covid. My biggest concern is we are ruling by consent, we need people to come with us. When people look at these rules, people I speak to who have been absolutely religious devotees of lockdown, they now say, “I’m just not going to do this any more”.

‘And the concern is that they won’t follow some of the other rules that do make sense that we should have in place.’

MPs voted in favour of Covid-19 regulations which enforce the rule of six in England by 287 votes to 17. The 12 Conservative MPs who opposed the regulations were: Peter Bone, Sir Graham Brady, Philip Davies, Richard Drax, Philip Hollobone, Esther McVey, Huw Merriman, Henry Smith, Sir Desmond Swayne, Sir Robert Syms, Charles Walker and William Wragg.