Covid passes get support from our MPs
VALLEY Conservative MPs Jake Berry and Sara Britcliffe - along with Ramsbottom colleague James Daly voted with the Government on the Prime Minister’s ‘Plan B’ measures.
The votes back the extension of face mask enforcements, introduce the use of Covid passes to nightlife venues and make vaccinations mandatory for NHS workers.
The votes were held in light of rising cases of the Omicron variant.
But Mr Johnson was hit by a significant revolt from his own backbenchers, with 38 Tory MPs voting against renewed rules on face masks and 96 Conservatives defying him on requirements for socalled “vaccine passports”.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Johnson’s authority had been “shattered” by “an extraordinary, extraordinary rebellion.”
UK Health Security Agency data showed Rossendale was yet to have a confirmed Omicron case in the period to December 6, although there were five ‘probable’ cases.
Figures reported this week showed that a quarter of ambulances pulling into our region’s hospitals last week faced at least a half hour wait to hand the patient over. Doctors’ groups have described the situation in emergency care as “dire”, with fears of what winter and a potential surge in Omicron cases will bring.
Earlier in the week Ms Britcliffe rebutted allegations she held a supermarket advice session without wearing a mask.
Haslingden’s MP was accused by former Labour county councillor Bernard Dawson of breaking face mask rules at a surgery in the foyer of Tesco Great Harwood in her constituency on December 11.
He said: “Supermarket staff are expected to wear masks. We must all take the necessary precautions to protect one another.
“Recently she has been wearing her mask at Westminster, but she seems to have forgotten it on Saturday.”
Responding, Ms Britcliffe said she wore a mask inside the supermarket “at all times” apart from when drinking a coffee, which is allowed under face mask laws.
She said: “I held a supermarket surgery in the foyer of Great Harwood’s Tesco next to the doors on Saturday. During that time I also had coffee as it was quite nippy and I was at back to back visits and meetings all day.
“When walking inside the supermarket I, of
course, had a mask on at all times, as you would expect. I know lots of people we represent are tired
of these attempts to take things completely out of context to try and score a few political points.”