Counties could be split by new local lockdown tiers today as MPs call for rural wards to be given looser rules than towns and cities as data shows infection rates dividing communities in Kent, Leicestershire and Lancashire.
Officials will meet today to review the restrictions for the run-up to Christmas and are expected to be heavy-handed. Cases are rising again nationally and the effects of November’s lockdown have all but worn off, with more than 34million people now living under Tier Three rules.
But MPs from across the country have called for their rural residents to be cut some slack, people living in ‘zero Covid’ areas lumped under rules triggered by towns or cities nearby.
Kent MP Tom Tugendhat is advocating for the county to be split so people living in the countryside in his constituency can have more freedom – the whole county is in Tier Three because Medway and Swale have some of England’s highest rates. But case numbers are rising even in smaller areas, showing how outbreaks can leak out into smaller communities.
In Lancashire and Leicestershire there are calls for some areas to be released from the toughest rules as many people in the Midlands and the North have been living under strict curbs for months on end.
In Greater Manchester, the mayor Andy Burnham said the city has a ‘good case’ for finally coming out of Tier Three, having been in lockdown since October after driving the second wave along with Liverpool, which is already in Tier Two.
And data shows that counties in the South East – England’s new hotspot – are divided, with cases high and rising in the towns but much lower in the greener areas around them, with splits on the cards for East and West Sussex.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock this week admitted the Joint Biosecurity Centre would consider splitting areas in pursuit of fairness, and Essex and Hertfordshire have today seen parts of the counties put into Tier Three with others kept out.
Broad brush tactics have been repeatedly criticised and the Government now appears to be aiming for a more refined approach to target only the worst-hit areas.
The official infection map of Kent shows that some areas in the north of the county, such as Medway and Swale, have some of the highest Covid rates in the country (darker colour shows higher numbers of coronavirus cases), while areas in the south are less badly affected
Tonbridge and Malling MP, Tom Tugendhat,
Kent became the first part of southern England to be thrust into Tier Three rules when they were put in place on December 2.
Rates in Swale and Medway were rocketing at the time and remain some of the highest in England now, at 673 and 640 positive cases per 100,000 people in the week to December 10 – a combined 2,793 positive tests.
But Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling to the south of Medway, is calling for a more local approach.
His entire constituency is in Tier Three but some areas have rates significantly lower than the England average, such as Hadlow & East Peckham and Tonbridge Higham Wood, which have seen only 13 cases each in the most recent week.
Mr Tugendhat said on BBC Radio 4 this morning: ‘We’ve got to look at communities within our country as relevant to the people living there and not simply blanket approaches across the entire county.
‘In a county like Kent which is 1.9million people, so over half the size of Manchester or about a quarter the size of London, treating it as a single entity is not entirely practical.’
He said breaking down even one constituency into smaller areas showed ‘distinct differences’ in outbreaks.
‘In some of the wards that I’m lucky enough to represent you’ll see zero cases of Covid at all,’ he added, ‘because this is still, sadly, very much more of an urban and metropolitan sickness than it is rural.
‘Many of the rural areas have much lower rates of infection because of population density and much lower travel between areas.’
MPs have made the same claims across the country, notably about Leicestershire in the House of Commons yesterday.
Leicester and some areas around it have never truly been freed from lockdown rules since the first wave ended in May, with some form of restriction having been placed on the city all year because of stubborn infection rates. The whole county is currently in Tier Three.
But MPs in some areas are frustrated by lockdown rules triggered by outbreaks in the city and suburbs.
Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, has pushed for her constituency to be ‘de-coupled’ from Leicester city, along with other areas, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday confirmed they would be considered in isolation.
Ms Kearns said in a tweet yesterday: ‘I’m grateful & relieved that @MattHancock today confirmed to me in the House of Commons that Leicestershire will be tiered separately to Leicester after weeks of concerted lobbying by myself & colleagues That doesn’t mean auto leave tier 3 as still have much work to do locally.’
She added: ‘If we remained tied to Leicester City, even if our rates plummeted we’d have to remain in the same tier as them. That won’t happen anymore thanks to my lobbying.’
Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, wrote: ‘Matt Hancock just confirmed in the HoC the assurance he gave me at the weekend. Leicester and Leicestershire will be looked at separately. We are being decoupled from Leicester and should be in Tier 2 soon if infection rates remain low. Result’.
Department of Health data shows that infection rates vary across Leicestershire, with the highest numbers of cases in the city itself (256 per 100,000), Oadby and Wigston (256), Melton (225) – part of Ms Kearns’s constituency – and Blaby (218).
More rural parts of the county, however, have much lower rates of infection but face the same lockdown rules.
In Mr Bridgen’s constituency of North West Leicestershire, for example, the infection rate in the week to December 10 was half that of Leicester city, at 126, and it was up only seven per cent on a week earlier.
And in Charnwood the rate was 124 and falling, while it was 133 in Rutland – also in Ms Kearns’s constituency.
Broad brush tactics sweeping rural areas up in county-wide lockdowns triggered by outbreaks in towns and cities have angered MPs regularly since the tiering system began.
In a move that may reassure local officials, Matt Hancock indicated in the Commons yesterday that the Government and Joint Biosecurity Centre would be willing to consider splitting counties to make rules fairer.
Speaking specifically about Leicestershire in response to Alicia Kearns’s question – but hinting at a precedent that could be used across the country – Mr Hancock said: ‘I would say to residents in Melton and Rutland that we will look at Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland separately when we make the decision on tiering on Wednesday.
‘Those in Rutland who are in Tier Two still need to work at it and do their bit to try to keep Rutland in Tier Two, and, of course, hopefully get to Tier One. It is so important that everybody does their bit.’
County splits have come into force today, as parts of Essex and Hertfordshire have entered Tier Three rules, along with the entire of Greater London.
Tier Three rules have been brought in in 11 areas of Essex including Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow and Chelmsford – while other parts of the county remain in Tier Two – and in four places in Hertfordshire; Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Watford and Three Rivers.
Infection rates are not the only measure officials look at when deciding on whether to push places up through the tiers, and these places may have been included because they are closely connected to London, where the entire city is in lockdown.