Boris Johnson warned that a third wave of coronavirus currently sweeping across Europe could ‘wash up on our shores’ today as he tried to fight off a fresh rebellion by lockdown hawks.
The Prime Minister is facing Tory backbench demands to speed up the UK’s journey out of lockdown off the back of the runaway success of the vaccine programme.
A hardcore is threatening to vote against emergency legislation underpinning the closures that needs to be voted through by MPs later this week.
But Downing Street insisted today that the legislation, which can only be extended for a period of six months at a time, was needed to ensure the smooth running of the furlough scheme and sick pay benefits.
Mr Johnson’s press secretary told reporters the PM would use ‘every opportunity’ to make the case to unhappy Conservative MPs that the current roadmap is going at the right pace.
And speaking on a visit to the BAE Systems factor in Warton, Lancashire today, Mr Johnson said he expected the third wave of Covid-19 infections to arrive at the UK’s door.
‘People in this country should be under no illusions that previous experience has taught us that when a wave hits our friends, it washes up on our shores as well,’ he said.
‘I expect that we will feel those effects in due course.
Tory MPs warned Britain risks ‘squandering the advantages of our vaccination programme’ by moving too slowly to lift the lockdown. Picture: Stock
Germany is one of several European countries heading for tough new lockdown measures as cases spike amid a stalled vaccine roll-out that has left people unprotected
Speaking on a visit to the BAE Systems factor in Warton, Lancashire today, Mr Johnson said he expected the third wave of Covid-19 infections to arrive at the UK’s door.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, said that while ‘it may have made sense to give the government the most extreme powers over our lives for a short time in last spring’s emergency … to allow them to remain for a year and a half would be another matter’
‘That’s why we’re getting on with our vaccination programme as fast as we can but a vaccination campaign and developing vaccines, rolling them out – these are international projects and they require international co-operation.’
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman added that the Goivernment had ‘reviewed every power in the act and have identified those which are no longer required and can be expired’ when it comes to a vote.
Europe’s third wave of Covid infections is gathering pace amid a woefully slow vaccine roll-out that has seen just eight per cent of its population given at least one dose – leaving the rest vulnerable to infection.
Germany looks set to tighten lockdown measures today and extend them into April.
Meanwhile ministers in the Netherlands and Belgium have also warned that measures may have to get stricter as cases spike.
It came as Tory backbenchers said Britain risks ‘squandering the advantages of our vaccination programme’ by moving too slowly to lift the lockdown.
Amid signs of a gathering rebellion, a string of MPs said they were ready to vote against the Government this week when it seeks to extend Covid laws to the end of September.
The NHS yesterday revealed a third consecutive record day of vaccinations with 844,285 on Saturday and they want this strength to be used as a catalyst to speed up the roadmap.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, wrote in the Daily Express: ‘It may have made sense to give the government the most extreme powers over our lives for a short time in last spring’s emergency but to allow them to remain for a year and a half would be another matter.
‘It is our freedom to see our families, to form relationships, to cooperate with each other or to take a different path that defines our humanity. We should take it back now.’
And former minister Steve Baker last night said it was time to take advantage of the benefits.
Mr Baker, deputy chairman of the 70-strong Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, told Sky News: ‘Of course the plan out of these restrictions is a path to freedom, it’s just that unfortunately many of us believe that it squanders the advantages of our great vaccination programme.’
But a health minister today argued that the law needed to be extended so that furlough can continue to apply even after all measures have possibly been scrapped.
Helen Whately told BBC Breakfast: ‘The road map is on track and indeed we want to lift those restrictions by June 21.
‘We have said we will take steps cautiously and we will be driven by the data rather than those dates.
‘There are also a number of things which will need to continue and will be continued for a longer period of time.
‘So, for instance, the furlough scheme, which the Chancellor extended through to October, and this Act is needed in order to have the furlough scheme.
The EU has threatened to block millions of doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine from coming to the UK after Britain streaked ahead in the race to inoculate its population
‘Also the sick pay, which means you can get sick pay from day one and, for instance, if you’re isolating from Covid, so there are things we need to have in place beyond the dates in the road map.’
Labour’s Keir Starmer also threw his party’s backing behind an extension of the legislation, effectively killing off any chance of it filing to be approved.
He told LBC radio: ‘We’ll look at the regulations, but we have supported the government in these regulations every time they’ve put them before Parliament and that would be my starting position, to support the government on this.
‘We’re not out of the pandemic, we are still rolling out the vaccine, and in those circumstances, I think the government needs these powers and I would be slow to vote against powers which allow statutory sick pay to start on day one of being sick, which is very important during the pandemic, and against provisions that say you can’t be evicted during the pandemic if you’ve fallen behind in arrears.’
In the hour between 11am and noon on Saturday, a record 27 people per second were vaccinated.
The Institute of Economic Affairs yesterday said the success of the programme meant there was now ‘a strong case’ for bringing forward Boris Johnson’s road map dates by four weeks.
A higher daily total of 873,784 was initially reported by the Prime Minister and Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who later clarified that figures from Scotland had ‘been revised down slightly’. Picture: Stock
Christopher Snowdon, an economist at the free-market think-tank, said: ‘Every extra day of lockdown produces diminishing returns and mounting costs.
‘Waiting another two months for hospitality to reopen seems excessive when people will be meeting in their homes regardless of government diktats.
‘We should keep a watchful eye on the data, but we should not stick stubbornly to an arbitrary timetable.
There is now a strong case for bringing the road map forward by four weeks.’
Amid signs of a gathering rebellion, a string of MPs said they were ready to vote against the Government this week when it seeks to extend Covid laws to the end of September. Pictured: An anti-lockdown protest in London on Saturday
Windsor MP Adam Afriyie said: ‘I fear that some minds in government are focusing on arbitrary dates rather than looking at the reality of the data on hospitalisations and deaths, which is what we were told in January would determine the unlocking.’
Ministers are facing a growing rebellion ahead of Thursday’s vote to extend Covid laws for a further six months.
But one Whitehall source told the Mail that ministers may insert a review clause that could end the regulations in June to head the revolt off.
Dr Mary Ramsay, of Public Health England, yesterday warned it was ‘very important that we don’t relax too quickly’ and that face masks and forms of social distancing may stay in place ‘for a few years’.