MP calls for the removal of state’s Covid ‘manacles’
ROSSENDALE MP Jake Berry says the “manacles of state control” being exerted through the coronavirus crisis must be removed.
The Conservative MP hit out at what he portrayed as increasingly draconian government and police measures, during a House of Commons debate on northern coronavirus restrictions led by Minister of Care Helen Whately.
The Valley MP also claimed the rules have a “labyrinthine complexity” which is leaving his constituents “confused”, during the exchanges on October 7.
Mr Berry told the House: “For someone who lives in Rossendale and Darwen on the border between Bolton and Lancashire, the rules have a labyrinthine complexity.
“They change on a weekly basis and people cannot follow them. Surely, living with this virus must mean having simple, easy-to-follow rules that do not change on a weekly basis, and that can be turned on or off based on local data. Does my right hon. Friend accept that that is the right approach?”
The MP later called for a national system covering England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that is clear, proportionate and easy for people to follow, and should come in and out on the basis of “local data and local decision making”.
It comes after Labour questioned whether ‘political interference’ is at play when ministers are deciding which places face local lockdowns, as we reported last week.
Mr Berry added: “As a nation, the liberties and freedoms we take for granted have not been given to us by a benevolent Government. They have been hard fought for and hard won. In fact, on many occasions they have had to be torn from the hands of the powerful. Day by day, we see those liberties and freedoms being given back to the Government in the name of Covid. I am afraid that that has to stop, because once we give these up, they will not come back to us; the Government will not return them.
“The worst of society is the Government enjoying these new powers a little bit too much, with police officers fining people for being in their front gardens, and a bizarre ban on people sunbathing on their own in public open spaces; I cannot see what harm that was doing.
“We want to remove the manacles of state control from our hands and our feet, but we can do that only when we have beaten this virus.”
Addressing the matter of different action in different areas, the Minister said: “What I will say is that numerous factors are looked at - the incidence rate, the positivity rate, hospitalisations, intensive care units and, of course, taking into account local views.”