Boris Johnson has defended a second COVID lockdown in England from critics who said it was unnecessary and others who said it was too late, arguing now was the time to prevent a “medical and moral disaster”.
“We are fighting a disease… When the data changes of course we must change course too,” he told parliament, setting out to lawmakers that action was needed to avoid a “medical and moral disaster” when hospitals could be overrun.
Defending his earlier measures to try to limit lockdown measures to those areas suffering from the highest infection rates, he said he had not been too slow in reacting as the number of cases spiralled across England.
“In fact we are moving to national measures when the rate both of deaths and infections for instance is lower than they were in France,” he said.
He also said that people needed to self-isolate more if potentially exposed to COVID-19 than they currently were doing.
In reply, leader of the opposition Sir Kier Starmer said that the”central lesson” from the first wave was that without acting quickly and decisively, the economic and health costs would be higher.
As a result of the Prime Minister and Chancellor failing to learn this lesson “this lockdown will be longer than it needed to be – at least four weeks – it will be harder and the human cost will be higher”, he says.
The Labour leader says Boris Johnson ignored Sage advice for 40 days, and the daily death toll has risen as a result.
“That is the human cost of the Government’s inaction,” he adds. Track and Trace and the three tiered system have not only stopped the spread of the virus but been “swept away” by it.
“At every stage he has over promised and under delivered,” he adds, describing the delay as a “catastrophic failure of leadership and of judgement” and calls on Mr Johnson to explain to the British people why he failed to act.
Sir Graham Brady called on Boris Johnson to publish a full impact assessment of the second lockdown, including economic and mental health impacts, before Wednesday.
The Prime Minister says there are many estimates of the jobs lost against which the number of the lives lost must be judged.
Karin Smyth, Labour’s MP for Bristol South, said public trust is “at rock bottom”, as she called for Mr Johnson to sack Dido Harding as head of Test and Trace. Ms Smyth also asked “what is the real plan” about returning to the three tiers after December 2.
