Hawks vs. Pigeons: How the Covid Lockdown ‘Circuit Breaker’ Has Divided Westminster | World News

With Keir Starmer’s call for a national “circuit breaker” blockade in England to stop the spread of Covid-19, the battle lines have been clearly drawn.

The intervention firmly places the Labor leader in the so-called “pigeon” tribe, pushing for stricter restrictions, facing off against opposing “hawks” in an effort to safeguard the economy.

But who occupies each camp and what about those floating in the middle? Here is a summary of the key players:

Hawks

Sir Graham Brady

A thorn in the government’s side in recent weeks, the chairman of the influential 1992 Committee of Conservative Parliamentarians has led conservative rebels to push for greater parliamentary scrutiny of the restrictions. The Conservative MP’s amendment to the Coronavirus Law, aimed at guaranteeing a vote in parliament before future measures to clamp down on social freedoms, was signed by more than 50 MPs last month, but was ultimately not selected by the president. However, political pressure led the government to give in and agree to give MPs a vote in parliament on any restrictions across the country. Brady, who highlighted concern for his constituents in Greater Manchester who have lived with additional restrictions since July, told parliament on Tuesday: “This half-living state that we have come to inhabit cannot be allowed to become permanent.”

Steve Baker

Hardened in the battle for Brexit, the former chair of the European Research Group has been a key critic of the government shutdown strategy and a central figure behind the scenes who helped garner support for Brady’s amendment. Along with Brady, Baker was one of 42 conservatives who fired a warning shot at the government Tuesday night by voting against the stricter Covid-19 curbs. A total of 82 MPs, including 23 Labor and 10 Liberal Democrats, voted against the motion that contained a mandatory hospitality cut-off time of 10 p.m., as well as other restrictions on public spaces and fines. With the Labor Party formally abstaining, the motion passed 299-82.

Between

Downing street

Debates are said to have raged in Issue 10 on the scope of the coronavirus restrictions, and Boris Johnson introduced the government’s three-tier lockdown system this week. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is believed to have been leading the “hawk” charge in the cabinet, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock considered the “pigeon” head of lockdown at Downing Street. Sunak gave a glimpse of the discussions around the cabinet table, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today show last week: “A cabinet is not a collection of robots, a cabinet is a collection of people who are coming, debating the issues, these are really difficult judgments, there is no precise way to come up with some kind of mathematically correct answer, we are making judgments, the prime minister is in the best place to do it, I fully support the approach he has taken … “

Pigeons

Keir starmer

The Labor leader, whose party has so far widely supported the government’s lockdown measures, put a fork in the road Tuesday by calling for a “circuit breaker” lockdown of at least two weeks. Speaking at the first of his new televised press conferences, Starmer warned of the dire consequences if his position was not adopted by the number 10. “If we don’t, we could sleepwalking into a long, bleak winter. That choice now belongs to the prime minister. I urge you to do so, ”he said.

Northern leaders

Starmer’s call for a national circuit closure has been endorsed by northern leaders, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the Mayor of the Liverpool City region. Steve Rotheram. A statement signed by Burnham, as well as the council’s 10 leaders in Greater Manchester, said on Wednesday: “If the government follows its current strategy, we believe it will leave much of the north of England trapped at Level 3 for much of the winter with all the damage it will do. If cases continue to rise as predicted, and the government continues to refuse to provide the substantial financial support that Level 3 areas will need, then several leaders in Greater Manchester believe that a breakdown of the national circuit, with the required financial support, would be a preferable option “.

Wise

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) collectively recommended a short-circuit lockout for up to three weeks at a meeting on Sept. 21, documents released this week show. Separately, England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, who is also a Sage member, said at the Downing Street press conference on Monday that he was not confident that the “base case” at the highest level of the measures of three levels of government will be enough to overcome ”the virus.