Covid-19: Road Map Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Covid-19: Road Map

Tracy Brabin Excerpts
Monday 22nd February 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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We need to see the data and the effect of each successive relaxation. As I explained to the House, we need four weeks to assess whether the relaxation has caused a surge in the virus, because that is the time it takes—so, from the opening of schools until 12 April. We will need to assess that, and then we will need a further week to give people due notice, and the same onwards through 17 May to 21 June and so on. The reason for that cautious but irreversible approach is that I think people would rather have certainty than urgency. We are going as fast as we reasonably and responsibly can, but if there is a trade-off between haste and certainty, I think people would prefer certainty.

Tracy Brabin Portrait Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
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The Prime Minister will appreciate that parts of my constituency and others in West Yorkshire have been in heightened restrictions and higher tiers since last summer when others had many more freedoms. Our people and businesses have paid a disproportionately high price in the national effort to tackle covid, and because of this many areas are building back from a more challenging position. Can the Prime Minister confirm today that funding packages will address this specific inequality and that there will be no return to regional tiers, ensuring that our recovery from covid is truly a national recovery?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Yes, the hon. Lady should wait to hear what the Chancellor says next week, and we will make sure we go forward as one nation together.