As readers of this paper will know, I am opposed to the heavy-handed lockdown measures imposed in this country as a result of Covid-19 and especially the even tougher rules in place locally – rules that have been further enhanced again this week I recently voted against the Government’s “rule of 6” for friends and families meeting up and am also very much opposed to the arbitrary - and business crippling - 10pm curfew, and the new three tiers of which we have now been placed in tier 2.

I will continue to oppose measures that restrict people’s freedom because, quite simply, I am a Conservative.

The constant blizzard of arbitrary rules, which clearly have no scientific basis for them, will only serve to collapse the economy, and destroy people’s businesses and jobs – with all the terrible health consequences of that. I am not prepared to sit back and just accept that destruction of people’s livelihoods and the inevitable house repossessions which will follow.

What the government should be doing instead is to place their trust in the common sense of the British people. The government should remind people of what is important – social distancing and washing hands regularly – and then warn those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus – people over 70, ethnic minorities, those with underlying health conditions and those who are obese – and then let people manage their own risk, and keep the economy going. As a Conservative I believe that individuals make better decisions for themselves, their families and their communities than the state makes for them. Some people may not act responsibly, but those people are not following the government rules anyway so what on earth is the point of them? They just punish people who are responsible.

For example I believe it should be up to my 77-year-old mum to decide whether she wants to meet up with her grandchildren in their own home taking into account any potential risk involved. I know that she, and many other people in even more at-risk categories, are very clear that they should be able to make their own decisions. They don’t need the government to tell them that they can or cannot see their grandchildren.

The sight of the sons being told they could not comfort their grieving mother at their own father’s funeral the other day just sums up how inhumane the current approach is. The fact that the official at the funeral thought it was the right thing to do shows how far we are moving away from the land of hope and glory to the land of fear and misery.

If anyone had said a year ago that this was going to happen in Britain in 2020 you would have thought they had lost the plot. I have been shocked at how easily people can be frightened by the state into giving up their hard won freedoms.

Initially we were told the lockdown was needed to allow the NHS to build the capacity it needed, but now it seems the approach is to contain the virus through lockdowns until a vaccine is found.

There is also the certainty that there are very damaging life and death consequences for people with a whole host of other conditions or illnesses. This tunnel vision on Covid-19 at the expense of all other health concerns is clearly leading to other deaths that could have been avoided if the approach to date had been different. We need to care more about all deaths in the future.

I was part of a virtual meeting with Professor Whitty last week and he confirmed that the overall mortality rate from Covid-19 is thought to be between 0.4 and 1%. Probably 0.7%. Of those over 80, the chances of dying from coronavirus are 1 in 10 and, of course, other conditions being present are a factor. The chances of dying at younger ages is very, very low indeed. These are the facts that should be informing people’s own choices - not the nanny knows best approach of the Government – and these are certainly not figures which justify collapsing the economy. The solution is not for the government to hand out more and more billions of pounds it doesn’t have to mothball people’s jobs and businesses. The solution is to reopen the economy, otherwise where is all the money we need for the NHS going to come from?

The current approach is like a health expert saying they can eliminate all road deaths each year by banning anyone from ever using their car, and the government agreeing to it.

It is not just me saying this either. Countless medical professionals and scientists are also in agreement - and their voices need to be heard to balance the constant onslaught of worst case scenario reporting we are hearing. The government and the country needs to get a grip of itself – and quickly - or else people will soon find the cure was far far worse than the virus itself.

NOTE: A reference to flu causing more deaths this year than the coronavirus was removed from this story on November 10, 2020. According to the Office of National Statistics, of all death occurrences between January and August 2020, there were 48,168 deaths due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) compared with 13,619 deaths due to pneumonia and 394 deaths due to influenza. The T&A is happy to set the record straight.

  • Philip Davies is a Conservative politician and MP for Shipley