PERSHORE’S MP Harriett Baldwin has offered her cautious backing to the new Coronavirus tier restrictions which came into effect this week.
The West Worcestershire MP, together with Evesham MP Nigel Huddleston , was among 291 Conservative MPs to support Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans to take the country out of its second national lockdown on Wednesday (December 2).
A total of 53 Conservatives were among the 78 MPs to reject the plans while many in the Labour Party abstained alongside the Liberal Democrats, SNP and Green Party.
Mrs Baldwin is a member of the Coronavirus Recovery Group (CRG), a group of MPs which wants to see a strategy adopted of living with the new virus which protects our health, the economy, education and society.
While many of her CRG colleagues rebelled against the Government, Mrs Baldwin revealed the promise of regular reviews of the restrictions, votes in Parliament, improving Test, Trace and Isolate and more targeted measures was enough to secure her support.
“I now feel it is possible to vote for a further short period of controls as we await the rollout of the vaccines,” she said.
Writing in her Westminster Diary for the Observer, Mrs Baldwin said the country couldn’t ‘carry on as we are’.
Under tier two guidelines, residents must not socialise with anyone they do not live with apart from those in their support bubble indoors whether at home or in a public place.
Pubs and bars must remain closed unless they are operating as restaurants and serving food. The Government has again warned alcohol can only be served with ‘substantial meals’, although it has failed to provide clear guidance on what is considered substantial.
The controversial 10pm curfew has been scrapped with businesses allowed to stay open until 11pm but last orders will now be at 10pm.
“We’ve burnt through borrowed cash at a rate unknown in our history, relying not on the ‘kindness of strangers’, but the ‘kindness of the Bank of England’. We all know we are living in a completely unsustainable economic position,” Mrs Baldwin said.
“I can’t accept lockdowns and fear of restrictions make a strategy. I want to be able to influence my Government to adopt an approach that is enduring and based on the very best critical thinking from around the world.
“We’ve done lots of amazing things in the UK this year. But we can’t carry on as we are. Let’s find an enduring way to live with Covid-19,” she added.
