‘Back tier rules to avoid third wave’
ENGLAND could face a third wave of coronavirus if ministers fail to “get the balance right” with restrictions, the Foreign Secretary has said, as he tried to persuade Tory rebels to back the tier system.
Dominic Raab refused to rule out a third national lockdown if there is another spike in cases in the new year, saying only that the Government was “doing everything we can to avoid that”.
But he sought to win over his Conservative colleagues who are critical of the threetier system ahead of a crunch Commons vote on the measures tomorrow when MPs could reject the plan.
Mr Raab insisted the restrictions – which will place swathes of England under stringent rules – are necessary to “bear down” on the pandemic and keep the country out of a national lockdown.
But he said tiers would be downgraded in areas where the virus is in retreat, telling Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “We are starting with a more restrictive approach than previously with the localised approach.
“But that allows us to ease up when we are confident the virus is going down and stabi
lised – there’s a review every two weeks.” Mr Raab said that, with testing, “those two things are the crucial bridge to that light at the end of the tunnel in the spring”.
And in an interview with BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said there was a “risk” of a third spike in case numbers “if we don’t get the balance right”.
Asked whether there would be another national lockdown if people fail to comply with the rules, Mr Raab said: “We’re doing everything we can to avoid that.”
His comments came after Boris Johnson wrote to Conservative MPs offering them another chance to vote on the restrictions early next year, saying the legislation will have a “sunset of February 3”. In a bid to head off a rebellion, the Prime Minister also said that at the first review of the measures on December 16 he would move areas down a tier where there is “robust evidence” that coronavirus is in sustained decline.
The vote after Christmas will determine whether the tier system stays in place until the end of March.
In a further olive branch to MPs, Mr Johnson committed to publish more data and outline what circumstances need to change for an area to move down a tier, as well as analysis of the health, economic and social impacts of the measures taken to suppress coronavirus.
Labour shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said her party’s support was “not unconditional” and that it was seeking “clarity” about the tier system.
Without Labour backing – and if Mr Johnson suffers a major rebellion – the Government could struggle to pass its motion on the tier system. But several MPs said they still had reservations about supporting the restrictions tomorrow.
A further 208 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, the Government said yesterday.