Public Health

With this we shall take the following motion:

That the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Rest...

I want to begin by telling the House that I was hugely encouraged by a visit I paid only yesterda...

The Prime Minister talked about the virus being eradicated. Only one virus in history has been er...

The right hon. Gentleman is, of course, completely right. Containment is the objective of the tie...

The latest rate in my area is 79 per 100,000 people. A week ago, it was 178. We went into lockdow...

Indeed, and I will come in just a moment to what more we hope to do for pubs, restaurants and eve...

My constituency sits entirely within the Borough of Allerdale, where our rates have declined to j...

Yes, indeed. This is a point that many of my hon. and right hon. Friends have made to me and to t...

I thank the Prime Minister for giving way. After the inconsistencies and controversies of the pre...

I love Slough, but I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying. I appreciate people’s feelings...

I want to make a little bit of progress, because I want to say something now about our hospitalit...

In the week up to 25 November, Market Rasen ward had six cases and is to go to tier 3; East Ham w...

Indeed, I can certainly give my right hon. Friend that assurance: we will look in as much granula...

I just want to make an important point to my right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir E...

Kent is the biggest county by population in Britain and there are vast differences in the rate of...

My right hon. Friend is quite right to raise the position of Tunbridge Wells, and I know that the...

I am going to give way for one last time, to the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed ...

Will the Prime Minister ensure that anyone who wants to take a test to confirm that they do not h...

We are rolling out lateral flow testing across the country and it is open to people to get a late...

What assessment has the Prime Minister done of compliance with previous lockdowns? Does he share ...

I normally find myself in agreement with my right hon. Friend, but I must say that I do not think...

rose—

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to tell us.

I am very pleased to hear it. Many Labour Members believe that there should be restrictions but b...

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will really think carefully about what he just said. We are trying...

No, I am coming to the end.

In total, our vaccines taskforce has secured more than 350 mill...

I will be introducing a four-minute time limit.

1.16 pm

May I start by welcoming the fall in infection numbers, with the drop in the number of people bei...

Will my right hon. and learned Friend give way?

I will just make some progress, and I will come back to my hon. Friend.

I also fear that wi...

I thank the Leader of the Opposition. Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that the suppor...

We have lots of speakers, and interventions from those who are down to speak early is not fair on...

I do agree, and I will come on to business support in a minute, but let me make the points in sup...

I have a biology degree and I am going to take a wild punt that I am one of the few Members of th...

I am grateful for that intervention and I am setting out exactly why not—and I will take interven...

Your famous hindsight.

This isn’t hindsight; I am telling you what is going to happen in two weeks. We know where we wil...

Order. Mr Sambrook, it is continuous; we have had it for a few weeks now. Let us have a rest toda...

Tier 2, crucially, depends on all other factors falling into place at exactly the same time. Alth...

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is doing a very good job—it is his job to criticise the Gove...

Sir Edward, that is your second bite of the cherry; there are other people as well—please.

I will come to that. I have accepted the case for restrictions—we were very clear about the need ...

I am extremely grateful to the right hon. and learned Gentleman for giving way. He talks about th...

I do agree, and their cry still has not been heard. I accept that in putting together a support p...

Ah!

We accept the case for restrictions. We want a plan that is going to work, we are on plan 5 and t...

I have to say that, although there are many points of merit in what the right hon. and learned Me...

Well, there might be a different interpretation of the events just passed, might there not, which...

I did not hear my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister make the promise that the hon. Gentleman i...

The motions before the House relate exclusively to England, but that does not mean that they do n...

May I say at the outset that I think the Prime Minister’s instincts in this matter are not so dif...

I would say to the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Sir Graham Brady) that this debate i...

The right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) leaves me with an interesting image to star...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis). I agree w...

The science is not the same as the opinion of a single scientist.

I could not agree more, and one can go right the way from the Great Barrington group to the peopl...

On bonfire night—normally a superb family occasion—this House locked down our nation for the seco...

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this important debate, which will have a huge impact on my ...

I rise to oppose this motion with some sadness, as I recognise the hugely difficult decisions tha...

Lancashire is an awful long way from Kent, but, as I follow the right hon. Member for Ashford (Da...

First, I pay tribute to the continued amazing performance of NHS staff and, indeed, to the Govern...

There are no staff!

Intervene if you like.

I will. The hon. Gentleman talks about Nightingale hospitals, but there are not enough staff to s...

I thank the hon. Lady for intervening and giving me a bit more time, and that is where I would li...

Covid is still taking a heavy toll on the lives of our constituents, and with this job crisis and...

I find myself more able to support the Government today than I was on 5 November, and the reason ...

We are in a never-ending cycle of national and localised lockdowns and restrictions that are not ...

Why will you be able to buy a pint in a sports venue without getting anything to eat, but if you ...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is not enough for the Government merely to refrain from c...

That would be discrimination. It would be vaccinationism, which we must of course resist.

T...

It is hard to follow the right hon. Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne).

As a N...

Does my right hon. Friend share my concern for dentists, who have followed the rules over face, h...

The frustration for many people is that they see their businesses being ruined by restrictions ev...

Covid is a very serious disease, and I take it very seriously, as I do the pressures on our natio...

The right hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper) is absolutely right to say that this Governm...

Let me start with some positives. I say to the Minister, for whom I have the highest regard, that...

It seems to me, listening to the debate and to my constituents, that the Government have a proble...

I hate this. I hate the whole situation, as do many people in the country. We are all trying to s...

I will focus my remarks on these health regulations in relation to my constituency. Liverpool, Wa...

In these debates, we talk about elderly people as if they are not in the room. We talk over their...

Yet again, we are here debating measures that restrict the freedoms of the people we represent, w...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in this important debate.

The UK h...

When I last spoke in one of these debates in September, I urged real caution about the imposition...

I oppose these measures not because I oppose restrictions, but because they are wholly inadequate...

Many of my constituents are very angry that west Berkshire and Wokingham have been placed in tier...

Hon. Members have been very brief and well-behaved this afternoon, but we are trying to get in as...

I am extremely grateful to Madam Deputy Speaker for my time.

I wish to talk specifically ab...

There will now be a three-minute limit. I call Mark Jenkinson.

3.37 pm

May I start by thanking my hon. and right hon. Friends across Government for their level of engag...

I am very pleased that my constituents in Sefton Central are now in tier 2, because they were in ...

At the beginning of the pandemic, we were flying blind. The number of tests we could administer—a...

I commend the Government, because I know that the motivations behind the measures they are trying...

For the first time in 10 years on a matter of policy, I will be voting against my Government toni...

The people of Sedgefield respect the difficulties and challenges involved in how best to control ...

Order. Sorry, time up.

3.56 pm

My hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) queried whether Manchester...

My constituents have, with very few exceptions, done what was asked of them. They have made immen...

Mr Deputy Speaker, I think I learnt from you not to let the fact that something has been said in ...

The weight of opinion that has been heard today should make the Government think twice about the ...

On a lighter note in a deeply serious debate, my wife had to come in for a bit of House of Common...

This is a dangerous moment in the life of our country. People feel they have been pushed too far,...

Apologies for the interruption, but I saw the so-called impact assessment and I have to say that ...

I do agree with my hon. Friend, who is well qualified to say that.

The hospital capacity pr...

In this pandemic, the Government have always been behind the curve—too slow to take the necessary...

We all want to see only the minimum level of restrictions necessary to keep this virus under cont...

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of everyone who lives in my constituency, we have been abl...

Before I make my brief remarks, I am reminded of the quote by Teddy Roosevelt, who spoke of the p...

That is a very important point, amusing as it is. Those of us who have seen behind the curtain kn...

Absolutely right.

We are told that non-essential retail can reopen—hurrah! But I am not qui...

rose—

I will give way again, very generously.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. He is making light of some of these issues, which...

Absolutely not. This has brought out the number of lunatics in the country, quite frankly.

...

My constituency has been placed in tier 3 restrictions along with the rest of the north-east. Alt...

It is rather apposite that we are having this debate on World AIDS Day; many hon. Members are wea...

Yesterday, I received an email from Alison, who runs the Bears Paw pub in the Frodsham part of my...

It is a great privilege to speak in this debate and to follow the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mi...

In the north-east, we had been under restrictions for some time prior to the national lockdown, p...

I want to start by thanking the Prime Minister for steadfastly battling to get us through this cr...

My city, Coventry, has made enormous sacrifices as this invisible disease has turned our entire w...

When I spoke in the debate on 5 November to determine the lockdown that we are about to emerge fr...

Putting further restrictions in place is not what anyone wants. I think we all understand why som...

Order. Sorry, time is up.

4.57 pm

We have now had 253 days of restrictions of one form or another—days of uncertainty, of mental st...

’Twas the night before Eid, 116 days ago. That evening, the majority of people in my constituency...

When I declined to support the regulations on the national lockdown on 5 November, I did so on th...

The Government’s response to the pandemic has been incompetent, shambolic, arrogant and, alas, co...

Most of the east midlands is in tier 3 due to the vast number of cases in the second wave. Applyi...

I start from the fundamental principle that we do need restrictions across the country in some sh...

I call Steve Brine.

5.14 pm

I said to the Prime Minister earlier that my area has seen a drop in the seven-day average of 55%...

It is obvious that consultation with local government leaders and MPs has been woeful.

Woeful? It has been non-existent in many instances. I am not reassured to hear that that has been...

It is a pleasure to follow the metaphors of the hon. Member for Winchester (Steve Brine) and, ind...

I think that any decision the Government made tonight would have left them open to criticism. I c...

I must admit that I felt quite irritated listening to the Prime Minister’s juvenile efforts to go...

We have heard some passionate speeches this afternoon opposing the Government’s measures, but I h...

Order. Before I call Rachael Maskell, if anybody is on the call list who does not intend to take ...

We need strong public health measures and strong support for our economy. Tragically, the Governm...

Much has already been said in this debate, so I will keep my points short. I am incredibly disapp...

It is pleasure to make a short contribution to this debate, which has been compelling to follow. ...

I share the concerns expressed by many Members about the lack of consistency in the application o...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price). I agree with many o...

It is difficult to say something fresh and original when you are No. 79 on the list, but I will g...

It is a pleasure to follow the impassioned and measured speech of the hon. Member for East Worthi...

Speakers 82 to 84 have withdrawn, so we go straight to Rob Butler.

5.54 pm

I have highlighted in this Chamber on many occasions the impact that coronavirus is having on bus...

A month ago, my reasons for not supporting a second lockdown were that the measures represented a...

I remind Members again of the two-minute target to get more people in.

6.12 pm

When we debated the second lockdown, I wrote in my local paper that I had never felt more conflic...

Now is not the time to turn our backs on what we have achieved in this country. We have sacrifice...

I felt it extremely important that I speak in this debate, and, as I can see from the call list, ...

I have struggled, like many other MPs, over the decision on the new tiering system. Beautiful Has...

Mr Deputy Speaker was in his place before and I know how much he is aching to get back into his b...

After much soul searching, I will vote with the Government tonight, but it has been a difficult d...

Look at the figures.

That is exactly what I am looking at. The graph shows tier 1 at the bottom left, tier 2 in the mi...

This vote is incredibly difficult for all of us who will have to make a decision. On the one hand...

I have listened carefully to today’s debate and was going to say that I am really pleased that th...

I am delighted to be called in this debate. By chance, I am currently reading an excellent book o...

As we are debating this global pandemic, I want at the start to mention another global epidemic o...

This debate this afternoon, and into this evening, has been on one of the great challenges of our...

The Secretary of State will know that Warrington moves from tier 3 to tier 2 tomorrow. At the sta...

Yes; I was going to say that my hon. Friend need just ask, but I think he did. I will ensure that...

May I offer my condolences and say how sorry I am to hear of the loss in the Secretary of State’s...

The hon. Gentleman, who is also from Merseyside, makes an important point. It is undoubtedly clea...

My right hon. Friend is, of course, right to say that measured controls and restrictions are nece...

Yes, of course. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out earlier what happens if an area m...