Nadhim Zahawi: Anti-vax protesters should be 'nowhere near' schools

22 November 2021, 10:04 | Updated: 22 November 2021, 10:25

Anti-vaxxers should not be going anywhere near schools, Ed Sec says

By EJ Ward

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has told LBC that anti-vaccine protesters should not be going "anywhere near" schools or pupils.

Answering a question from an LBC listener during the regular Call the Cabinet show, Mr Zahawi pledged the police will act, but he rejected calls for exclusion zones.

Anne, from Buntingford, said he grandaughter's school was targeted by the protesters who campaign against the Covid vaccine.

Mr Zahawi branded the protests outside school as "abhorrent" and "it will not be tolerated."

When LBC's Nick Ferrari pressed the Education Secretary, asking what he was planning on doing about the issue.

Revealing he had spoken to the Home Secretary about the issue, Mr Zahawi said he had been reassured that the police have all the resources needed to deal with this issue.

"Anti-vax protesters should not be going anywhere near a school, or a pupil, or a parent or a teacher, and if they do the police can and will take action against them."

The Education Secretary Na implied that he was not keen to introduce exclusion zones for anti-vaccine protesters outside schools.

He told LBC: "I'd rather have the police deal with it."

Asked if he wanted anti-vaxx protesters arrested, rather than exclusion zones, he said: "Absolutely. Because the moment you start giving them the space to think that they are somehow being prohibited ... [Priti Patel] has promised me that the police have got all the resources they need to be able to deal with [them]."