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Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure from angry conservatives to set a ‘clear end date’ for local closures.
High-ranking Conservative Party figures have warned the Prime Minister that he must announce a “strategy to bring life back to normal”, as they said an indefinite cycle of localized shutdowns is not acceptable and would ruin the economy.
The intervention came amid growing speculation that ministers could agree to new ‘super’ Level Three restrictions this week to be imposed in the parts of the country with the highest coronavirus infection rates.
However, hopes for a vaccine breakthrough have risen after it emerged that Jonathan Van Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, privately told MPs that a jab could be ready to roll out shortly after Christmas.
Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure from big conservatives to set an end date for local lockdowns.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Conservative Backbenchers Committee, said the government must establish a ‘strategy to bring life back to normal’
Critics of the lockdown are on red alert after Sir Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Advisor, said last week that Draconian Level Three measures will not be enough to get the R rate below the key number of 1.
Said friday The “basic” measures laid out at the top level of restrictions, including closing pubs and banning indoor home mixing, are “almost certainly not enough” to get the virus back under control.
But the prospect of the government implementing even stricter rules is likely to provoke a backlash from conservatives.
Many Conservative MPs and colleagues believe that the current plan for local lockdowns is not sustainable in the long term.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Conservative Backbenchers Committee, said it was “useless” to rely on locks to suppress the virus.
He told the Sunday Telegraph: “If more restrictions are proposed on people’s lives, the government must set a clear end date and a strategy to bring life back to normal.”
Lord Lamont of Lerwick, the former chancellor, said that repeatedly imposing blockades and then lifting them was “deeply damaging to business and not really a strategy.”
Sir Bernard Jenkin, a conservative supporter, has urged the government to establish a policy of ‘living with the coronavirus’.
He and five other Essex MPs have also called for more financial support for businesses in Level Two areas.
A government spokesperson said: ‘We keep all measures under review and we do not want the restrictions to remain in place any longer than necessary, but where the virus is spreading we must take specific measures to save lives, protect the NHS, keep children in school and protect the economy ”.
Van Tam was reported to have told MPs during a private briefing Monday afternoon that a vaccine was only a few weeks away.
According to The Sunday Times, he said: ‘We are not light years away. It is not a totally unrealistic suggestion that we can implement a vaccine shortly after Christmas.
“That would have a significant impact on hospital admissions and deaths.”
The dispute over local closures came when Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham blamed Chancellor Rishi Sunak for being “the problem” in the fight to move the region to level three.
The dispute between Number 10 and the Labor mayor continued yesterday after Downing Street said new talks had been set up for the weekend, only for Burnham’s office to deny it.
Mr Burnham and conservative politicians in Greater Manchester oppose the imposition of Level Three measures, and the Mayor calls for increased financial support for workers and businesses.
He has called for a return to the generosity of the original licensing scheme that made the Treasury pay 80 percent of workers’ wages, but Sunak has only offered a 66 percent subsidy for those whose businesses were forced to close. by Level Three measurements.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester told New Statesman magazine: “I think the problem now is largely the Chancellor. I think he’s made wrong judgments throughout this. ‘
Downing Street indicated that a call had been scheduled for Sunday morning after a message was left with Burnham.
But a spokesman for the mayor said: “Nothing has been fixed yet.”
A Downing Street source replied: ‘Number 10 approached this morning to try to arrange a meeting with the Mayor of Manchester.
“We will continue to try to agree on these difficult, but necessary, measures to protect the NHS and the people of Manchester.”
Johnson threatened to impose measures on Greater Manchester without local support on Friday, warning that “time is of the essence” and that “tragically more people will die” with each day of delay.
