Extending restrictions the 'only responsible' course of action, region's MPs say

Last night’s Commons vote saw Boris Johnson see off a Tory backbench rebellion, with MPs agreeing to delay the ending of most of the remaining coronavirus restrictions for four weeks.

The measures had been due to end on June 21 but will now run until July 19, although a review will take place two weeks from now.

It means that pubs, clubs and theatres will continue to operate within capacity limits and nightclubs will remain closed.

Limits also remain on how many people can meet up, with groups of up to 30 allowed to gather outdoors and up to six people or two households allowed indoors.

Restrictions on the number of guests permitted at weddings will be lifted as planned, although hosts must ensure social distancing rules can be maintained.

The extension passed in the Commons by 461 to 60 after it was supported by Labour. A total of 49 Conservative MPs opposed the Government, with many arguing the delay would harm businesses.

Mr Johnson said the move was necessary as the link between infection and hospitalisation had been “weakened but not severed”.

Mike Wood, Conservative MP for Dudley South, said he had supported extending restrictions due to the threat posed by rising Covid rates.

He said: “It’s going to cause huge problems for a lot of businesses, particularly hospitality, tourism and events.

“Two weeks ago I was absolutely certain that there would be no reason for that June 21 date to be delayed, but what we are starting to see now is an increase in hospital admissions.

“Having talked to NHS leaders over the past couple of days, they are really worried that they are going to receive thousands and thousands of admissions by late July and that they are going to struggle to cope with that.

“If this happens it will lead to people not getting the care they need for other urgent procedures such as cancer care.”

“The only responsible thing that can be done, when the medical advice and the scientific advice is telling us that we will save thousands of lives by delaying, is to have these extra few weeks to get as many people vaccinated as we can so we can go into the summer with our best chance of withstanding further outbreaks.”

Mr Wood said he shared the Prime Minister’s confidence that the new deadline of July 19 would be met.

“I think we will be able to go ahead in four weeks time, and I’m hopeful that if the cases don’t increase as rapidly we may even be able to do it sooner,” he said.

Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, the Shadow City Minister, hit out at the PM for delaying putting India on the ‘red list’ of travel destinations sooner. He said the extension had been “predictable but avoidable”. “Predictable because infections of the new Delta variant have been rising fast – and even though the vaccination programme is a great success we still haven’t covered enough of the population to give proper protection against the new variant,” he said.

“But avoidable because the Prime Minister did not put India on the red list for weeks when we were watching the Covid crisis there unfold night after night on the TV news.”

“His desire for a trade deal with India and his scheduled visit to the country delayed action that could have protected us more against this variant and now we have another extra month of restrictions with all the costs that will entail.”

John Spellar was the only MP is the Black Country to oppose the measures. The Labour MP for Warley, said: “The Government has dashed people’s hopes once again.

“Many small businesses are hanging on by their fingertips and their workers are at risk, all because the Government won’t take a proportionate approach and enable people to use vaccine certificates to enter venues safely.

“We know the vaccine is protecting people, why won’t the Government let people have the benefit from it?”

The delay was driven by the more transmissible Delta variant of Covid, which is now by far the most dominant strain in the West Midlands.

Across the four Black Country boroughs, 452 new cases were recorded in the seven days to June 11, up eight per cent on the previous week.

Birmingham has the highest infection rate in the region, with 90.9 cases per 100,000 people, after 1,038 new cases were recorded in the week to June 11.