🚨Extending powers to October raises justifiable concerns that restrictions will be reintroduced in the Autumn
👉 The burden is on Govt to clearly justify to Parliament each measure they wish to retain & explain why they are proportionate, reasonable & grounded in evidence 2/4
💷 You may hear some try to suggest that the Coronavirus Act needs to be extended to October in order to keep the financial support packages in place
❌ This simply isn’t true
✅ Those packages will continue automatically 3/4
🤔 If we are *really* to believe that the Govt’s roadmap will be “reclaiming our freedoms” by 21 June, why would Parliament be asked to extend the Coronavirus Act all the way until October❓
⚠️ That is the question MPs must consider and Ministers must answer this week 4/4
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💉 The benefits from our world-leading vaccine rollout risk being squandered. How so, you may ask?
📊 The data and scientific and medical advice say one dose gives vast majority of protection. The Govt used to agree...until today 👇 (1/4)
💉 The UK’s four Chief Medical Officers say first dose brings ‘substantial protection’ (link below)
🤔 Changing the goalposts (by requiring most people to have second dose before bulk of restrictions are lifted) casts unwarranted doubts on efficacy (2/4)
💬 The start of the Oxford/AstraZeneca rollout is excellent news and will provide reassurance to so many. AZ’s chief executive has said they can produce up to 2 million doses a week. 1/6
💬 .@MattHancock told me last week that the NHS is capable of delivering the vaccines at this pace. This must become the central, overriding focus of government and I would encourage ministers to publish daily reports of progress. 2/6
💬 Vaccinating the oldest and most at risk groups dramatically changes the impact of Covid – in terms of deaths, serious health consequences and admissions to hospital. 3/6
The latest Coronavirus Regulations on self-isolation, which were signed off by a Minister at 5pm on Sunday and came into force only 7 hours later, contain some very serious powers that were not in the statements made to Parliament last week 👇(1/6)
It creates a new criminal offence for employers who knowingly allow their employees to go to work when they’ve been told to self-isolate, with liability falling on both the company and its officers. (2/6)
It gives the power to use “reasonable force” to enforce self-isolation not just to police officers – who have special training about using the power safely – but also to PCSOs, anyone appointed by the Secretary of State and local authority employees. (3/6)
Last week, a major change in the rules affecting every family in the country came into force, the so-called ‘rule of six’ – here are my thoughts for @timesredbox on why there needs to be more transparency and scrutiny. (1/4)
There’s no realistic way of enforcing these sorts of rules if the public lose trust and confidence in the Government’s messaging. (2/4)
Our parliamentary system delivers good government by ensuring Ministers have to explain policy, share the evidence which supports it and secure the agreement of Parliament. Good Ministers should not fear Parliament. (3/4)
The last week has shown us that COVID-19 has not gone away – some considered thoughts for @ConHome on why the future of office life is already here (1/5) conservativehome.com/platform/2020/…
We are going to be living with the virus for some time – we need to be able to get on with our lives while also keeping COVID-19 under control (2/5) conservativehome.com/platform/2020/…
Most office workers can’t go back to the office full time until we have a vaccine or treatment and, even then, the workplace paradigm has shifted - an office-remote working hybrid is the new normal (3/5) conservativehome.com/platform/2020/…