Boris Johnson Blocks North and Ignores Rising Coronavirus Rates in Conservative Seats

Boris Johnson has been criticized for hitting the North with lockdowns doing nothing to increase Covid cases in his London constituency.

And he wasn’t the only top conservative who felt the heat for circumventing tougher restrictions in his own backyard that could upset voters.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Housing Chief Robert Jenrick were criticized, among others, for ignoring the rate hike on their patches and helping to create a new divide between north and south.

To sum it up, many of the closed areas in the north are the so-called conservative Red Wall seats won by Labor in the last election.

Now some of the Conservatives’ new MPs are threatening a rebellion as irate voters feel abandoned by the party they switched to.

One day of anger Covid exploded when:

• Labor leader Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of “serial incompetence” for his handling of the second wave crisis.
• An expert from the British Medical Association called for the restrictions to be “distributed more evenly”.
• The infection rate in the UK continues to rise, with millions more to join the
  10 million blocked.
• Northern leaders claimed that people would not obey the new measures in the blockade areas because rates were already falling.
• Covid cases continue to rise in Europe, now engulfed by the second wave. Meanwhile, the prime minister’s cronies here still feel that using “common sense” is sufficient advice for their constituents.

However, the figures show that this approach does not add up.

In July, the 287,000 people living in Bolton, Lancs, represented by a Labor MP and two Red Wall Conservatives, were hit by a local lockdown when the rate was just 26.79 per 100,000.

Bury, now with two Conservative MPs, followed the same path with 30.37.

But Labor analysis shows that Boris Johnson’s constituency in Hillingdon had a rate Wednesday of 80.82, while Education Secretary Gavin Williamson in South Staffordshire hit 91.61 and Dominic Raab’s seat in Elmbridge, Surrey. shot up to 127.20.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has a rate of 34.07 per 100,000 in West Suffolk, but there are no new restrictions.

Rishi Sunak’s stronghold in Richmond, North Yorks, has hit 74.45 and Robert Jenrick has seen his Newark and Sherwood patch hit 182.16, after promising “greater freedom for local areas to design new measures together. with us “on BBC Any Questions.

However, Burnley, held by Red Wall Tory Antony Higginbotham, crashed when the rate was almost a FOURTH of that, at 46.11.

Nottingham is now Covid’s worst hotspot at 760.6 per 100,000, but no additional restrictions have been imposed.

Chris Oglesby of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said: “The government can blockade the country if it wants to. What they can’t do is keep much of the North as a permanent open prison. “

And Dr Chaand Nagpaul from the British Medical Association added that “stronger measures introduced now” were needed.

His words were directed at a prime minister labeled a “hypocrite” by Labor Rupa Huq, who criticized him for having “one rule for them and another for the rest of the population.”

Johnson faces enough trouble among his own MPs as his Red Wall’s loyalty begins to unravel.

Almost 30 of them have formed a Northern Investigation Group to ensure that the prime minister keeps his promises.

Its leader, former Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry, told Radio 4’s Week in Westminster: “It’s a kind of union for parliamentarians from the north.”

Sources close to London Mayor Sadiq Khan say he is ready to order a shutdown in the capital.

One told the Sunday Mirror: “The city is at a serious tipping point.”

The mayor is angry that he has to rely on GP statistics and intensive care admission figures to chart the course of the virus, as tests in the city are the lowest in the country.

Labor leader Keir Starmer criticized the prime minister’s’ serial incompetence ‘, adding:’ Testing, tracing and isolating is critical. The Prime Minister said we would have a world system, we just need an effective one. “

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham demanded better licensing conditions and a rethinking of curfews in bars.

He warned that he and other northern mayors would take legal action if talks this weekend on the north-south divide failed.

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said: “There is a huge disconnect between the workers and the Prime Minister.

“If this happened in the southeast, it would not be accepted.”

Meanwhile, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell demanded that workers receive at least the minimum wage under Sunak’s job support plan.

The Health Department said: “The incidence rate is just one of a set of considerations about when it is appropriate to impose and release restrictions.”

No 10 did not comment.

Blocked by London …

BOLTON

MPs: a Labor MP and two Conservatives

26.78 cases per 100,000 at closing

CALDERDALE

Parliamentarians: a Labor MP and a Conservative

35.94 cases per 100,000 at closing

HYDNBURN, LANCS

MP: Sara Britcliffe (Tory)

26.61 cases per 100,000 at closing

BURNLEY

MP: Anthony Higginbotham (Tory

46.11 cases per 100,000 at closing

BURY

MPS: two conservatives

30.37 cases per 100,000 at closing

Left to use their ‘common sense’

HILLINGDON

MP: Boris Johnson

80.82 cases per 100,000 now

RICHMOND, YORKS

MP: Rishi Sunak

74 cases per 100,000 now

SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE

MP: Gavin Williamson

91.61 cases per 100,000 now

NEWARK AND SHERWOOD

MP: Robert Jenrick

182.16 cases per 100,000 now

ELMBRIDGE, SURREY

MP: Dominic Raab

127.20 cases per 100,000 now