Rishi Sunak insisted there was no need to move to Plan B to cut COVID cases after health leaders debated whether there needed to be an urgent rollout of tougher measures to combat a surge in cases.
The Chancellor insisted that the data showed that bringing back working from home and introducing compulsory COVID passports was not yet needed.
His comments to the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme came after it was reported that the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contacted local authorities on Friday to canvass their level of support for the immediate rollout of the winter plan – Plan B.
An official, sensitive document was seen by a newspaper outlet solicited viewpoints from the leaders and chief executives of councils across England to be furnished to the Cabinet Office before the end of the day.
But Rishi Sunak said the data didn’t imply they should be immediately moving to Plan B.
However, a leading Government scientist said some kind of Plan B was needed immediately.
Professor Adam Finn, who’s on the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said COVID 19 hospital admissions and deaths were rising and cautioned against complacency in what he said was a worsening situation.
Meanwhile, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government should introduce its Plan B to tackle the increasing rates of coronavirus now.
Speaking on Marr, Rachel Reeves was asked what Labour’s position was on reintroducing restrictions such as the wearing of face coverings and working from home.
She said Labour as a responsible opposition has always said that they would follow the science and that they’ve seen that SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) was saying that some aspects of Plan B, like wearing masks on public transport and in shops, and also working from home more flexibly should be introduced.
And she thought the first thing is the Government have got to do more to make Plan A work, and that if scientists are saying work from home and masks, then we should do that, and so we should get A working better because the vaccination programme has been stalling, including those parts of Plan B.
She said that there are also things not in A or B that needed to be done, like paying statutory sick pay from day one and also better ventilation in public places.
Asked directly whether Plan B should be introduced now, she said that it should but that we shouldn’t let the Government off the hook with Plan A either.
Sadly, countless people are now terrified thanks to the scaremongering by the media, and if you drip feed the lies long enough people will believe it.
What astounds me is that almost everyone has access to the internet, yet they absorb everything from the TV, but there’s a wealth of information out there that the mainstream media will never acquaint you with.
And whatever you believe, we shouldn’t be throwing hatred towards other members of the general public. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and I’m not sure why there seems to be a need to resort to childish name-calling.
If what some people are saying is true, that this is some scheme for mass control, then they’re just playing into the hands of those we believe are behind us, but really it’s all about divide and conquer, and as human beings surely we should be beyond turning and throwing childish remarks.
However, our Government is prepared to trash the country even though the data says there’s no need for any plan or COVID passports, which makes some people believe that this is all about control.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 