‘Rule of six’ is too strict, ministers tell PM
BORIS JOHNSON is facing growing unrest in the Cabinet over his “rule of six” that will force families apart for months, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
Senior Tories have demanded that children be exempt from the rule to enable families to get together and save Christmas, while scientists said such an approach would “make more sense”.
The new rules will make it illegal for more than six people, of any age, to gather socially in any circumstance from Monday, which Mr Johnson said was a necessary reaction to rising
Covid infections in recent days. However, one senior Tory source said that “half the Cabinet” had doubts about the rule and it was “pretty hard to find a Conservative member of Parliament who agrees with all of this”.
A Cabinet minister said: “I am not convinced the Prime Minister is in favour of it but he feels he has got to do it.
“I don’t understand why we are moving to more draconian powers. The country has been so well-behaved.”
Business leaders have warned the Government that reducing social gatherings to six people will have a devastating effect on the economic recovery. Meanwhile, Mr Johnson’s plan for coronavirus marshals to help enforce the six-person rule was unravelling as police derided them as “Covid Wombles” and councils said that they were a “gimmick”.
Downing Street admitted councils would not be given any money to pay for the marshals, suggesting volunteers could do the job, and said it would be up to individual local authorities to decide whether they wanted them.
The Government has discussed going even further with new lockdown
restrictions, and has drawn up “a welldeveloped proposal” for a nationwide curfew, which was discussed at ministerial level yesterday.
Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday that in Scotland children under 12 would be exempt from a new six-person rule, and there is growing pressure for England to follow suit.
Although the rule was signed off by the Cabinet’s coronavirus subcommittee on Tuesday, it has not been discussed at a full Cabinet meeting.
One Cabinet minister said “it is worth considering” exempting children from the six-person rule.
According to one report, every member of the coronavirus subcommittee was against the “rule of six” apart from Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, with Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, among the most vocal opponents.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said: “Kids should not be counted below a certain age. I would prefer the rule to apply to six adults. We know how this virus is being spread, and it’s by young people going out and partying in large groups, so target them instead.”
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPS, said: “If this rule had been debated by Parliament it would have been an opportunity to highlight some of the obvious errors such as the failure to exclude children.”
Scientists also said children should be exempt.
Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The Scottish approach makes more sense. I was amazed to see that under the English rules even a baby or toddler is counted.”
Prof Azeem Majeed, head of public health at Imperial College London, said: “All social mixing carries risks, but in these situations the risk of adding a couple of young children into the mix is very small indeed.”
A No 10 spokesman said including children in the rule would make it easier to enforce, because otherwise police would have to seek proof of age.
Meanwhile, the plans for Covid marcontacts shals descended into chaos after police and council leaders rejected the idea.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, briefed chief constables on the plan just 45 minutes before it was announced on television by Mr Johnson, leaving some “baffled” because the marshals would have no powers to fine people or enter premises.
Brian Booth, chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “We are snowed under with our usual police work so the real issue for us is one of resourcing. If we are suddenly inundated with calls from members of the public or marshals reporting illegal gatherings, what are we going to do?”
Another senior police source said: “Are they going to be going out in highvis jackets with two-metre sticks? It’s more Covid Wombles than marshals.”
Nesil Caliskan, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, told The Telegraph: “It seemed a bit of a gimmick.”