Boris Johnson faces Tory fury amid hints of
further lockdown
‘No alternative’ to measures given threat from Covid
second wave, PM will tell Commons
Heather
Stewart, Larry Elliott and Helen Pidd
Sun 1 Nov
2020 22.30 GMTLast modified on Mon 2 Nov 2020 04.37 GM
The prime
minister will tell parliament that without the draconian new measures, which
will come into force across England on Thursday, deaths from coronavirus over
the winter could be “twice as bad or even worse” than in the first wave.
He will
promise the government will “seek to ease” restrictions when the measures are
due to expire. However, cabinet minister Michael Gove made clear on Sunday they
could be left in place if they have not yet brought the infection rate down
sufficiently.
Gove said:
“We’ve got this four-week period, during which we’re going to review progress,
but of course we’ll always be driven by the data. We will always take a
decision in the national interest, based on evidence.”
Pressed by
Sophy Ridge on Sky News about whether that meant the measures could be
extended, he said “yes”.
Sage member
Jeremy Farrar, the chair of the Wellcome Trust, echoed Gove’s caution, saying
it was important not to be too “fixed” about the 2 December end date.
If the
infection rate, hospital admissions and other key metrics had not fallen far
enough by then, he said, the measures should be extended. “Much better to do
that than remove these restrictions and then have to impose even more draconian
restrictions over Christmas or soon into the new year,” he told BBC One’s The
Andrew Marr Show.
The latest
official data showed that on Sunday, 23,254 people were tested positive for
Covid-19 in the UK. A further 162 people had died within 28 days of a positive
test.
Johnson
will set out his plan to parliament after a chaotic weekend that saw his dramatic
announcement brought forward after it was leaked on Friday evening, causing
shock among his own backbenchers.
Amid
forecasts that the economy could take a hit of up to 10% as a result of the new
curbs, the Bank of England is poised to announce a fresh cash injection into
the economy later this week.
The City
had been expecting a resumption of Threadneedle Street’s quantitative easing
programme even before the new lockdown was announced, but now sees a fresh
support package as inevitable.
The Treasury
plans to announce more generous support for the self-employed following the
continuation of the furlough scheme for employees, but no further measures from
the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are currently planned.
Gerard
Lyons, who was chief economic adviser to Johnson when he was mayor of London,
said the lockdown was “terrible news” for the economy, which he said could
shrink by up to 10%.
“This
lockdown will ensure that a large section of the economy will be in a moribund
state and will require huge new stimulus and help,” Lyons said.
Sunak had
previously resisted a nationwide shutdown amid fears about its economic cost,
but signed up to the plan in the face of the risk of hospitals being
overwhelmed within weeks without action.
“If you
have an NHS that’s not going to function, people are not going to be running
off shopping, they’re going to stay at home. The economy gets crumpled anyway –
and people lose faith in government,” said a Whitehall source.
Sunak’s
abrupt decision to extend the furlough scheme, which pays 80% of workers’ wages
in affected businesses, was met with fury among northern mayors, who repeatedly
urged him to take the same approach when cities including Manchester and
Liverpool were facing tough tier 3 restrictions last month.
“This
morning millions of people woke up knowing the prime minister of this country
believes the north is worth less than the south,” Steve Rotheram, the Liverpool
city region mayor, said. “Quite frankly, the government has treated us with
contempt again.”
Andy
Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, called for an end to the government’s
“differential treatment” of people on low wages and “people in the north versus
people in the south”.
Conservative
MPs also lined up to criticise the government’s approach on Sunday. Sir Graham
Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour
that he will vote against the government’s lockdown measures in the vote on
Wednesday.
Former
Brexit secretary David Davis said he feared the lockdown would last until the
spring, as the virus resurges.
“In March,
Boris said let’s hope this will only last four weeks, and it lasted four
months. My firm belief this time is it will last six months. Because when it
gets to 2 December and R is still 1.5, which it will be, because this lockdown
will hold less well than the last one, then it will have to continue.”
He said
only countries that have aggressively pursued a “test, trace and isolate”
approach, including drastic measures such as closing borders and separating
those testing positive from their families in isolation wards, had managed to
control it successfully.
Another
former cabinet minister said they believed ministers had been left with little
choice but to act, but the “shambles” of the weekend “could cost us dearly in
the polls”.
Former
minister George Freeman said he would support the government – but only on the
basis of a clear strategy that would see more power handed to local leaders to
balance health and economic risks in their areas in the future.
MPs will be
given a vote on the measures on Wednesday, before they come into force – but
they are likely to pass with Labour support, even if a significant number of
Conservatives rebel.
The shadow
health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, will urge the government to use the
four-week lockdown period to fix the shortcomings in the test-and-trace system.
He will
call for much more extensive “retrospective” contact tracing to identify the
source of outbreaks, and urge the government to use new rapid saliva-based
testing kits to carry out weekly screening of high-risk workers.
These
should include NHS staff, as well as other at-risk workers such as those in
education, transport, retail and hospitality, Ashworth will suggest.
“Coronavirus
is growing with ferocity and urgent action is needed to bring the R below 1
nationwide which is why Labour urged Boris Johnson to use the opportunity of
the half-term holiday for a time-limited ‘circuit break’,” he said.
“This
didn’t happen, and test and trace have been overwhelmed. Controlling Covid-19
depends on fixing tracing, ensuring the quick turnaround of tests and
introducing regular, weekly testing to identify the 70% of carriers who may not
have symptoms but can still spread the virus.”
Speaking to
MPs, Johnson will stand by his decision not to lock England down earlier as
scientific advisers recommended in September – a choice Labour claims will have
cost lives.
“I know
some in the house believe we should have reached this decision earlier, but I
believe it was right to try every possible option to get this virus under
control at a local level, with strong local action and strong local
leadership,” the prime minister is expected to say.
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