Labour slams “failure to grip this virus” as MPs vote for national lockdown

Labour’s Alex Norris slammed the government for its “failure to grip this virus” as MPs overwhelmingly backed retrospective regulations tonight for a third national coronavirus lockdown in England.

The shadow health minister addressed parliament this evening, shortly before MPs voted 524 to 16 in favour of the government motion implementing a new lockdown that was first announced by Boris Johnson on Monday.

Norris told MPs tonight: “It is sobering – the daily figures that colleagues will have read while we’ve been sat in this debate; 1,041 more of our countrymen and women who have lost their lives to this horrible virus.

“It is a sobering moment, and with that in mind we will support these regulations today. We don’t think it’s inevitable that we’re in this situation that we’re in, but it is clear that it’s a very challenging moment indeed.”

The number of people in hospital with Covid surpassed 30,000 for the first time on Monday. This is above the previous peak on April 12th, during the first wave of the pandemic, when 21,684 people people were in hospital with Covid.

Norris reminded MPs this evening: “We are exactly where we were one week ago… discussing regulations – that failed. And, you know, that is very funny but actually it’s not funny at all when you think about it.

“I asked the minister three times to say that the government thought that their final attempt to salvage the tier system would work, and I had no such commitment made. So, I don’t think perhaps it’s such a surprise that it fell over.”

The shadow health minister added: “That is the characterisation of a failure to grip this virus… Just so slow and always short, trying to do the bare minimum and never frankly doing enough.”

He urged the government during the debate to offer more economic support to people and businesses facing hardship under the lockdown, and described the NHS test and trace system as the “gap in our fence”.

Opening the debate for Labour earlier today, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth described the lockdown as “necessary” but also told colleagues that the government should have acted earlier.

“This is a national emergency and a national lockdown is necessary,” he said. “Indeed, we should have locked down sooner. We are voting this lockdown through on the 12th night, yet in the run-up to Christmas the alarm bells were ringing.”

Ashworth highlighted the scientific advice on December 22nd, which warned that keeping the R rate below one would be “highly unlikely” with the new variant – and the country could struggle to do so even with schools closed.

“Here we are two weeks later with half a million infections since 22 December and 33,000 hospitalisations,” the Shadow Health Secretary told parliament this afternoon. “This is a national tragedy.”

The government saw opposition from within its own party in the vote, although the number of Tory backbenchers rebelling was significantly down from the 55 who opposed the Conservative Prime Minister on the November lockdown.

Chair of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory MPs Graham Brady urged the government to give MPs “control over what is happening” over the next few weeks as the country progresses under the national lockdown measures.

Conservative MP for Poole Sir Robert Syms told parliament today that the regulations amounted to what he called “essentially a blank cheque for three months to Public Health England to do what they wish”.

Another backbencher, Desmond Swayne, slammed lockdowns in general as a “complete failure” and warned that the electorate could well “point a finger of blame” at Boris Johnson in future general elections as a result of the decision.

They were joined in voting against this evening by Tory MPs Philip Davies, Richard Drax, Karl McCartney, Stephen McPartland, Esther McVey, Anne Marie Morris, Andrew Rosindell, Charles Walker and David Warburton, along with four DUP MPs.

Responding to the Prime Minister in parliament earlier today on the national lockdown measures, Keir Starmer demanded that Boris Johnson “keeps his side of the bargain” by using the time to provide support and focus on vaccine roll-out.

Following the announcement of new restrictions on Monday evening, the Labour leader said his party would back the measures in parliament. He emphasised the seriousness of the situation and urged people to “pull together”.

But Starmer also used his own televised address on Tuesday to call for a “round-the-clock” vaccination programme and challenged the government to ensure that this country is “the first in the world to get our country vaccinated”.