Jonathan Gullis
Main Page: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)Department Debates - View all Jonathan Gullis's debates with the Cabinet Office
(3 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Prime Minister
I think I might quarrel with the hon. Member’s description of a broken land and a broken people, because I think actually the people of this country have shown fantastic resilience. I do not think that they or we are broken; I think that we are going to come back very strongly. I also think that churches play an enormous part in that, and I am glad that they are going to be reopening from next week.
Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)
My right hon. Friend will know that while Stoke-on-Trent may be a small city, it is a mighty one. Having removed itself from Government attention over rising coronavirus figures twice this year, the city is once again showing its hardy spirit in pushing down case rates during the second wave by 100 per 100,000 cases in the last week. Will my right hon. Friend consider the approach made today by Stoke-on-Trent City Council leader, Councillor Abi Brown, of placing Stoke-on-Trent into tier 2 as we exit this national lockdown?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend is so right in the way he champions Stoke and the community spirit of the people of Stoke. I cannot say which tier, alas, they will go into. It will depend on all the things that I have discussed, and the figures are not easy. The incidence of the virus is still high, and we have to face that grim, grim truth, I am afraid. But the hope is there that, with mass testing—and the people of Stoke can do this if they choose: you can drive down the incidence, you can drive down the R, you can find the asymptomatic positives and you can reduce the virus in your area. If they can reduce the virus in their area, as Liverpool has done, by about two thirds, partly thanks to the participation of the people of Liverpool in mass testing, then they have the prospect of removing those restrictions as well. So “Get a test to kick covid out” is what I would also say to the people of Stoke, in addition to thanking them and my hon. Friend for all their hard work.