Covid-19 Update

Ian Blackford Excerpts

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is totally right in what she says. We simply cannot go on, as a country and as a society, reaching endlessly for lockdown, which is the Opposition’s instinct, no matter what the cost and no matter what damage it does. We have to remain cautious, and I am afraid that I cannot tell the House that we can rule out absolutely everything to protect the public, but as I said to the country last night, I am confident—that is why I am repeating it today—that we can get through this wave of omicron with the balanced and proportionate approach that we are taking. I am glad to have my right hon. Friend’s support. For the future, we need the polyvalent vaccines that can deal with any type of covid mutation and variant, as well as the therapeutics, and that is what we are investing in as well. And as the right hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner) should know, we are investing more per head than any other country in Europe.

[Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP)]

I thank the Prime Minister for giving me advance sight of his statement. I hope that he had a safe and restful break, and that his festive parties were perhaps more sensible and legal then they were in 2020. He is right to say that the booster programme is absolutely crucial. Getting a booster reduces the chance of getting covid, protects against serious illness and helps to reduce pressure on our NHS, but his central approach of riding out the omicron wave is a reckless gamble that risks lives and risks the NHS. Let us talk about what “riding it out” means. It means allowing the omicron variant to rip through communities. It means avoidable deaths, long covid and stretching the NHS to breaking point. That is why the correct approach is to show continued caution and to slow transmission. That is the proactive, sensible and cautious approach being taken by the Scottish Government and the other devolved nations. It is the UK Government who are once again out of step. Recklessness has been the hallmark of this Prime Minister. He has acknowledged that parts of the NHS will feel temporarily overwhelmed, but hospitals in England are already overwhelmed, with heart attack patients being told to make their own way to hospitals. How appalling, Prime Minister! What a failure!

Will the Prime Minister now listen to his chief scientific adviser and chief medical officer, who acknowledge that the disease is moving up the age ranges and that we can expect increased pressure on hospitals? Will he act to slow the rate of transmission? The reality is that he has no choice but to ride it out, because he is too weak to get a more cautious and sensible approach past his divided Cabinet and mutinous Back Benchers. He knows he does not carry the moral authority to protect the public when he broke previous restrictions himself.

The public are faced with a Prime Minister who does not have the political leadership or the authority to act to keep these islands safe, so will he finally acknowledge that he is riding it out and risking lives and the NHS because his Back Benchers are now calling the shots?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the right hon. Gentleman should take back what he said.

[Ian Blackford]

You don’t like the truth.

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman should be respectful of the tradition of this House that you do not accuse people of things they have not done. It is totally untrue. This Government have taken—[Interruption.]

[The Prime Minister]

While the Scottish National party continues to do serious economic damage in the way they do, we will continue to get on with a balanced and proportionate—

[Ian Blackford]

You’re damaging us.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Either we behave—[Interruption.] I do not need any advice from anybody over there. That is the last thing we need. We just need to calm it down. This is a very important debate, and the country is watching. They want to hear what is going on. Catcalling across the Chamber is not good for anybody.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful, Mr Speaker. I think what we need to do is get on together with a plan that is both balanced and proportionate and that does a huge amount to protect the public. It is the right way forward in dealing with omicron.

[Ian Blackford]

It is out of step.

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman says the UK Government are out of step with what the Scottish nationalist party wants, but we overwhelmingly do the same thing at the same time. There is far more that unites us than divides us. You may not like it, but that is the reality.

I take exception to the language used by the right hon. Gentleman. When it comes to the Union, he should reflect on the great success achieved by UK scientists working together on vaccines, on the formidable effort of test and trace operations I have seen in Glasgow and elsewhere, on the heroic actions of the British Army in ferrying vulnerable people who needed urgent covid treatment from remote Scottish islands to places where they could receive care, and on the huge furlough operation that saw many billions of pounds spent in Scotland, and a fine thing, too. He should take back some of his more intemperate remarks, which do him no credit at all. We should do our level best to work together in a civilised and collegiate way to get through this pandemic, and that is what this Government intend to do.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have given significant support to businesses throughout the pandemic, and we keep that under review. What would not be good for businesses would be to release people back to the workplace too soon so that they infect everybody else who is there.

[Ian Blackford]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Is it relevant to this statement?

[Ian Blackford]

Yes, it is. I am disappointed that the Prime Minister has left the Chamber, because I informed him that I would be making a point of order at the end of his statement. During his statement, he twice asked me to withdraw remarks that I had made during the statement. I do not withdraw any of the remarks that I made in the statement, because I am happy to confirm that everything that we have said was truthful and was about making sure that the Prime Minister was addressing the comments that we were making. That is in sharp contrast—

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

No, there is no “further” for a minute. Just let us hang on a moment. First of all, we are not going to continue the debate—

[Ian Blackford]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Gentleman should bear with me; I have not quite finished. What you have done is corrected, and put on record your views and opinions, and I am quite happy for that to be noted. I do not want to get into a debate. I hear that there was some unparliamentary language from both sides. I do not expect it. I do not want it. I want us to start going forward in the new year with more tolerance and better respect for each other. I do not want to continue this argument or the debate any further. We have two more statements and other business to get through, so just for now let us turn the temperature down. I do not want to get into further arguments about what was said from each side, which is where we were going.

I am very happy that the point is on the record. It has, in your opinion Mr Blackford, been corrected. It is up to the Prime Minister whether he wishes to take that view. I do not like the sniping from the sidelines. I know some carried on afterwards, but I really want to move on. Nadhim Zahawi is going to make a statement.

[Mr Speaker]

Points of order really should be made at the end of the statements. I have been very generous. Let us get moving and get through the business.

[Ian Blackford]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I really do not want to go on with this. It had seriously better be a point of order, because the last one was not—it was a correction.

[Ian Blackford]

The point is that the Prime Minister asked me to withdraw remarks, when what we had done was speak truth to power. However, there were several things that the Prime Minister said that were quite simply incorrect in relation to both myself and the deputy Leader of the Opposition, most importantly on the issue of poverty. Figures from the House of Commons Library and, indeed, from the United Nations confirm that poverty in this country has increased, and we need to stop the situation where the Prime Minister can come and make up his facts in the House of Commons.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Can I just say to the leader of the SNP that that is on the record? You have corrected it. I am not going to continue with a debate. I am going to get on with the statement, because the statement matters to all our constituents. I am not going to continue a debate that has already ended.