Covid-19 Update

Imran Ahmad Khan Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Absolutely I will. The hon. Member will have heard what I said earlier about the support for local authorities, but I will make sure we look particularly into what is happening in Sunderland and get her an answer.

[Imran Ahmad Khan (Wakefield) (Con)]

As Conservatives, we often speak of levelling up. However, now is the time to level with the British people. There is no silver bullet. All measures to stop the spread of covid have painful effects on our economy, social lives and mental wellbeing. Voices on the Opposition Benches believe that British people are incapable of understanding complex issues such as Brexit. The Conservative party is the champion of individuals’ rights to make autonomous decisions without state interference. Will the Prime Minister double down on our party’s historic commitment to invest greater trust in the individual to decide what is best for themselves?

[The Prime Minister]

Indeed, and I hope that the individual will also recognise that the risk that we carry—he or she carries—is not just to ourselves, but to the whole of the community because, in the end, we are all potential vectors of this disease and we may bring it inadvertently to someone who is more vulnerable than ourselves. That is the risk. That is why we are bringing in these measures, why we have had the package of measures that we have had throughout this pandemic, and why we now need to intensify them in some local areas now.