Boris Johnson issues plea to Tory rebels to support new lockdown

Boris Johnson has issued a plea to Tory rebels to back his new lockdown, warning that "the facts don't support" their opposition to the latest round of measures.

Ahead of a parliamentary vote on Wednesday the prime minister faced a barracking from his own MPs, who are concerned about restrictions on businesses and households.

Theresa May was the most prominent critic to lambast the government, accusing her successor of using figures that were "chosen to support the policy rather than the policy being based on the figures".

"The government today making it illegal to conduct an act of public worship for the best of intentions, sets a precedent that could be misused for a government in the future with the worst of intentions," the former prime minister warned.

Mr Johnson, who left the chamber as Ms May made her remarks, is expected to get the new restrictions through comfortably with the support of the Labour party, while the SNP have said they will not take part in the vote.

But the spectacle of a Conservative PM passing the measures with opposition votes could enrage his own MPs further. Former chief whip Mark Harper accused the government of having "acted too soon", claiming that the figures show that "the tier system is working".

Mr Johnson told him: "I believe that he's wrong and the facts don't support it. I've looked at the data and unfortunately what we have is hospitalisations are mounting very steadily."

While some Tory MPs criticised the policy on civil liberties grounds, others said they believed a lockdown could cause more harm than they prevented. Huw Merriman, MP for Bexhill and Battle, said he was unsure whether "we will save more lives by the lockdown that he proposes than we will lose from public health, from lack of jobs, from mental health crises".

While polling shows consistently high public support for stronger Covid-19 measures, prominent parts of the Conservative-supporting press have been critical of lockdown policies since February and agitated strongly against them – a factor which may have influenced the MPs.

In his opening remarks, Mr Johnson said: "I'm sorry to say that the number of Covid patients in some hospitals is already higher than at the peak of the first wave. Even in the south west, which has so far had lower case rates than most of the rest of the country, hospital admissions are over half way to their first wave peak.

"Sage's latest analysis published on Friday suggests that the R remains above one in every part of England. Every day that R is above one is another day that the number of cases will rise, locking in more hospital admissions and more fatalities, pushing the NHS ever closer to the moment when it cannot cope."

He added: "I know there are some members who are hearing from their local hospitals that the pressure is not that great yet, but the whole point about a national health service is that when hospitals in one part of the country are overrun, sick patients are returned to another, until the whole system falls over.

"This existential threat from the NHS comes not from focusing too much on coronavirus, but from not focusing enough. If we fail to get coronavirus under control it is the sheer weight of demand which would deprive other patients of the care they need."

Responding to Ms May’s intervention, Mr Johnson’s official spokesman said: “The prime minister, the chancellor and the government have been clear throughout about the cost not just to the economy from the measures which we have been forced to put in place, but also the impact which they have on mental health.

“Both of those things have been considered at every stage when we have been deciding what action we need to take. In the future as we consider what future measures are required that will continue to be the case.

“We fully understand the toll this virus is taking (not only) on livelihoods, but also on people’s mental health, and that’s why we’ve provided packages of support for mental health groups so people can access the help they need.”

Britain is the latest in a string of countries across Europe set to enter a second lockdown amid rising cases and deaths. Labour has been calling for a short two-week lockdown, which it says should have been imposed earlier for maximum effectiveness.

On Tuesday the UK's death toll rose by 397 people, bringing the total to over 47,000 since the start of the crisis. The number if the highest since 422 died on 27 May.