By Tony O’Riley–
Former Uk prime minister, Theresa May has criticised the British government’s figures in deciding the lockdown, though abstained in the voting which saw Mps overwhelming back the UK lockdown.
Ms May questioned the assessment of the modelling used to determine the lockdown and also criticised Labour’s circuit breaker as impractical. She said: “The evidence is, from Liverpool, that cases and accused Mr Johnson of choosing data to fit his lockdown policy.
Ms May said the lockdown decision was “to some extent based on the prediction of 4,000 deaths a day,” but that figure had already been proved “wrong”.
As MPs considered regulations for a second lockdown, Mrs May said: “This pandemic has challenged governments across the world and ministers have been under relentless pressure in dealing with this issue.
“But, just as ministers are making tough decisions, so are Parliament, and Parliament will make better decisions if it is fully and properly informed.”
She said: “It appears the decision to go towards this lockdown was partly, mainly, to some extent based on the prediction of 4,000 deaths a day.
“Yet, if you look at the trajectory showing in that graph that went to 4,000 deaths a day, we would have reached 1,000 deaths a day by the end of October.
“The average in the last week of October was 259, by my calculations. Each of those deaths is a sadness and our thoughts are with the families, but it’s not 1,000 deaths a day.
“So the prediction was wrong before it was even used.
“And this leads to a problem for the Government – for many people it looks as if the figures are chosen to support the policy rather than the policy being based on the figures.
“We need these proper analyses. We need to know the details behind these models. We need to be able to assess the validity of those models.”
Lack Of Cost Data
Mrs May also raised concerns about a lack of data on the cost of the Government’s Covid-19 decisions, including on mental health, domestic abuse, non-Covid-19 treatments, “possibly more suicides” and to the economy.
“For many people it looks as if the figures are chosen to support the policy, rather than the policy being based on the figures.
“We need these proper analyses. We need to know the details behind these models.”
Mp Backing
Prime Minister ,Boris Johnson predictably received strong backing from Labour to widely outnumber a rebellion by 34 Tory MPs with a majority of 477. opposed to the move.
The prime minister told MPs a second lockdown was needed to “contain the surge” in Covid cases – but rebels warned it would wreck businesses and lives.
The Tory rebels included former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 committee of backbenchers. Former Prime Minister Theresa May abstained.
It comes after the government reported the latest number of deaths to be 492 , making it the highest daily figure since 19 May, when 500 deaths were reported. The lockdown in England includes the closure of pubs, gyms and non-essential shops. It will replace the three-tiers of regional restrictions across England for four weeks, until 2 December, when the tiers will be re-imposed.
Conservative MP Philip Davies, who has always been vocal against lockdown measures, voted against the government today. The disappointed Mp said: “Nobody voting for this motion tonight is offering to sacrifice their own job in order to pursue this lockdown policy – of course not. They are just expecting millions of others in our country to sacrifice their jobs to pursue this policy.
“I never thought I would see the day a so-called Conservative minister would stand up and urge Parliament to further sacrifice our most basic of freedoms, collapse the economy and destroy jobs – all to pursue a failed strategy.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith went for full-throated opposition – describing a “circuit breaker” lockdown as a “business breaker”.
Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani said she would support the government for now, but was putting ministers “on 28 days’ notice”.
Mr Johnson said a second lockdown was “not something any of us wanted to do,” but he added: “I am not prepared to take the risk with the lives of British people.”
“While it pains me to call for such restrictions on lives, liberty and business I have no doubt that these restrictions represent the best and safest path for our country,” he told MPs.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that in ordinary times the measures taking effect on Thursday would be “unimaginable, but these are not ordinary times”.
Heavy Heart
Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Nobody votes for the regulations today with anything other than a heavy heart, on both sides.”
He urged the prime minister to use the four-week lockdown to come up with “something better” than the three tier system, as it was “not working”.
Earlier at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir accused Mr Johnson of “ignoring” the advice of government scientists who called for a brief “circuit breaker” lockdown in September.
“Does the prime minister understand the human cost of his delay in acting?” he asked Mr Johnson.
The PM said it was “always right to pursue a local and a regional approach,” adding that it was “showing signs of working”