Last Monday’s announcements that England would not be moving to stage 4 of the Covid-19 restriction lifting came as no surprise to anyone.
Indeed the scale of leaking in the press over the days in the run up to June 14th made this pretty much the worst kept secret in history.
Infection rates had been rising as a result of the Delta variant and any Government would see that to lift all restrictions – face masks, social distancing, large gatherings – as had been set out under the terms of stage 4 – was a huge risk at a point where hospitals are not overwhelmed by Covid-19 cases.
Like my colleagues last Wednesday, I supported the four week delay to restrictions being lifted ‘with a heavy heart’.
Matters like this should not be political footballs and we all need to continue to pull together in order to get as many people vaccinated and to stamp out the Covid-19 threat.
What perhaps made fewer headlines though, was the harsh criticism voiced by the House of Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, who was angered that the Government had made its announcement that the restrictions were to continue, in the press, before bringing the matter to the House of Commons for debate and discussion.
Hoyle set out that he had forced the Health Secretary to come before the House after raising his concerns; and described the situation as ‘totally unacceptable’ and ‘once again Downing Street has run rough-shod over Parliament’.
Indeed Speaker Hoyle went on to accuse the Government of misleading the House. I understand that the Speaker has demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister.
‘So what’ you might say – everyone knew the restrictions were to continue and most people understand why (even though this could have a catastrophic effect on many businesses).
Yet the way Government interacts with Parliament IS important. This is not a political point as this is not the first time the current Prime Minister has been criticised (September 2020 and August 2019 to name two other incidents) and Boris Johnson is not the first Prime Minister to face accusations of ignoring the Commons.
At each election you do not go out and vote for the leader of a political party. You cast your vote for your local candidate – to represent your interests in Parliament. Governments understandably want to get legislation through.
But MPs must be given the chance to check and make sure that the legislation is fair and justified. The removal of scrutiny by MPs is a small step towards totalitarian society, where the Executive (Prime Minister/President and Cabinet) makes all the decisions without any way of being stopped.
In the current times – where most MPs are asked to work from home, and to attend debates via ‘Zoom’ – and the maximum number allowed in the Chamber at any one time is 50 – the risk of Government ignoring Parliament is greater than ever. And so the Speaker is absolutely right to stick up for all MPs, across the political spectrum. I am sure he would do the same were a Labour Prime Minister to show disrespect for MPs.
In the meantime I have been pleased to note Covid-19 numbers in Blackburn with Darwen stabilise. Hopefully we are past the worst of the current outbreak. I would urge every resident who can do, to get vaccinated as soon as possible’.
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