Public Health

Andrew Rosindell Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)]

In 2017, the World Health Organisation’s pandemic influenza risk management guidance emphasised that any emergency measures should be necessary, reasonable and proportional. I fear that the measures we are being asked to vote for today are none of those. I was elected to represent my constituents in Romford, and I pay tribute to them for their resilience throughout this pandemic, but I cannot justify such a fundamental assault on their liberties and livelihoods. Removing people’s most fundamental rights and freedoms and confining them to their homes is a political decision. Those of us who are elected must judge not just the impact of the virus but the impact on our constituents’ livelihoods, businesses, jobs, education, homes and physical and mental health.

We are constantly told by the governing, scientific and media class that we must shut down our country and that people must surrender their most basic rights and freedoms in order to save lives, yet those countries that have followed strict lockdown strategies have not all been successful in achieving that aim. There is no Member of this House who does not want to save lives. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the NHS personnel at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, who have done a magnificent job in saving lives and caring for the sick. But there has to be a balance and proportionality to these decisions, considering the long-term consequences for the lives of the people we represent. I fear the impact of these shutdowns on those who run small businesses; on the 50,000 Britons with undiagnosed cancer, as estimated by Macmillan Cancer Support; on the elderly who have been cut off from their loved ones in the last years of their lives; on children from the poorest backgrounds who will fall behind as a result of schools closing; and on the victims of increased domestic violence and suicide.

The scientific advisers will never need to account for the effects of lockdown on our constituents, but we will. The shutdown that we are voting on today and the effects of these measures, while well intended, may, I fear, do more damage to the lives of the British people in the long term than the pandemic itself. I believe a complete rethink of this policy must now take place. Our country cannot go on like this.