Public Health

Greg Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Rob Butler).  I have spoken in previous debates on covid about my belief that we need to look for a better balance in our response to what is undoubtedly a horrendous virus. We need greater analysis of the impact of the restrictions that we are asking people to abide by—the detailed analysis that my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer) spoke of so eloquently a few moments ago—to ensure that we have the most proportionate possible response to covid-19.

I have voted with the Government in all the votes on our response so far. I have to say that I did so reluctantly on the last occasion, but I did so on the commitment that we could have a more granular approach—that my Buckingham constituency, which has consistently had lower infection rates than surrounding areas such as the south of Buckinghamshire, could be looked at on its own. Unfortunately, that did not happen, despite the numbers continuing to be low before Christmas. Instead, as my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Ben Everitt) mentioned, we went from tier 2 to tier 4 in just a matter of days. That brought with it significant devastation for business and, I fear, a long-term mental health crisis that will be with us for generations.

I cannot be alone in this House in having received many emails and letters from constituents highlighting that devastation. A restaurant owner in Buckingham wrote to say that a lot of businesses, including theirs, are suffering in silence, some resigned to failure. I have visited wet pubs that are grateful for the £1,000 but, when they are losing £3,500 a week, are in a very grim place indeed.

Perhaps this email from Mrs M will bring it into perspective. She wrote:

“I live alone. I lost my father earlier this year, during the first lockdown. No proper funeral. No family other than my Stepmum. His ashes are still with the undertakers. I haven’t been able to process my grief properly as the rites of passage haven’t happened. I feel as if I’m in solitary confinement without any reason to prolong my…existence.”

Or this from Mrs H, who wrote: “I live on my own and I’ve been self-isolating much of the year. I suffer from complex PTSD as well as diabetes and other disorders. My anxiety and depression linked to my mental health issues are a constant battle, and spending Christmas alone and worrying about my mother has been too much to bear.” I could go on; I have literally hundreds of such emails outlining the level of devastation suffered.

I offer those as examples of why we need that detailed analysis and a real understanding of the impact of the restrictions on real people’s lives, beyond covid. We need an understanding of how it can be that in Buckinghamshire, we went into the second lockdown in tier 1, came out in tier 2 and then had that rapid rise to tier 4, yet with each restriction that has been added it seems that the infection rate has got worse. We need to understand why that is. Why is it that lockdowns do not appear to be working?

As my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury mentioned a few moments ago, my local council declared a major incident today. I have talked to our hospital trust, and it is full; it is at a capacity crisis. Likewise, my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North spoke passionately about the situation at Milton Keynes Hospital, which is used by many of my constituents.

With that in mind, and without the detailed analysis that really shows what these restrictions are doing, I cannot vote for the Government’s measures tonight, but I cannot vote against them either. It is hard for me to abstain, as I always like to be for or against something, but I urge the Minister to bring forward that analysis so that we can move forward with the hope that the vaccine brings.