Covid-19: Road Map Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Covid-19: Road Map

Andrew Griffith Excerpts
Monday 22nd February 2021

(3 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I have a deal of respect for the hon. Gentleman as he and I have clashed many times over issues in London, but I think he uncommonly showed a failure to follow what I already said in my answer to the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer): the CMO and the CSA both approve of reopening in full.

Andrew Griffith Portrait Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) (Con) [V]
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More than anything, the nation’s businesses need certainty in order to plan. Today’s road map provides that certainty, and the reopening of schools is a welcome and critical element of it. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is important that, like navigating lock gates on a canal, we now proceed sequentially, as fast as possible, but always in a forward direction?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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As anybody who has steered a narrowboat or barge on a canal will know, the important thing is not to oversteer and then be forced to correct and bump the sides of the canal. That is what we are trying to avoid, which is why we are embarking on a cautious but irreversible approach.