Tory MP demands evidence for Government lockdown strategy

28 November 2020, 10:59 | Updated: 28 November 2020, 11:06

Tobias Ellwood: Local restrictions must be justified

This former Minister called on the cabinet to show their reasoning for imposing different lockdown tiers across the country.

Tobias Ellwood was speaking to Andrew Castle after revealing that he will be voting against the Government's proposed tiered restrictions.

He acknowledged the difficult situation Boris Johnson finds himself in: "There's no playbook here – there's no doctrine you can pluck off the shelf to say 'this is what you do when it comes to this kind of pandemic,' the Government is having to learn."

The former Defence Minister accepted that "we don't want to throw away hard fought gains from the national lockdown, particularly when we're going to ease up a little bit over Christmas," but there must be transparency in the strategy.

"Let's see the evidence." Mr Ellwood demanded, following public outcry at different restrictions for different areas of the country. "Let's see the justification for us being in one tier or another."

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Andrew wondered if there is evidence for the new tiered system, to which Mr Ellwood revealed "there is, but we don't get to see it."

He added that "the will of the people is so critical," during these times, and if the Prime Minister expects the nation to follow restrictions, there must be transparency.

"Compliance is so important when you're going through difficult periods."

Mr Ellwood reiterated that "there are a lot of plates spinning in Number 10 at the moment," referencing the US Election and Brexit as other issues the UK has to deal with.

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