Coronavirus tier reviews to be held fortnightly despite Commons suggestion that weekly changes could be made

York Outer MP Julian Sturdy pushed Health Secretary Matt Hancock in the Commons on Thursday on whether reviews could be held more frequently than the fortnightly plan set out in law.

Addressing Mr Hancock, Mr Sturdy said: “As the government continues to impose further unprecedented restrictions on people’s freedoms, it’s important to give people hope and justification.

“So as York’s Covid rate continues to fall, and is the lowest in Yorkshire, can the Secretary of State outline how we can get to Tier 1 baseline as fast as possible, and will he publish the assessment and the data under which York was placed into tier 2, so we can best judge how to get to tier 1, and when he talks about regular reviews, can I say a weekly review….would be much more desirable.”

Mr Hancock said: “Yes; I can answer positively on all counts. We have a regular weekly session to go through all these. I am committing to regular reviews rather than weekly ones simply because we sometimes have to do it more than weekly, especially if cases are shooting up in an area.”

Answering a question from Conservative MP for Poole Sir Robert Syms the Health Secretary said the initial decisions on tiers will be reviewed in a fortnight after they come into force – December 16 – and then regularly after that, adding: “By which he can reasonably take weekly.”

While answering Conservative former minister Jeremy Wright, MP for Kenilworth and Southam on the size of tiered areas, he said: “We are prepared to take those decisions at a lower-tier local authority area level. That is the exception rather than the norm but we will look at it every single week.”

MPs had inferred this meant Mr Hancock would be open to reviewing tiers on a weekly basis after the initial review date of December 16, and Mr Sturdy later said: “I was a little reassured by Matt Hancock’s answer to me that reviews to positions will be weekly, or even more regularly than that, and the assessment on which York’s placing was decided is being made publicly available. I am following up on this immediately.”

But Downing Street today said even though data would be reviewed more regularly, reviews would still only take place every two weeks.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It will be reviewed every two weeks, and as you would expect we keep looking at the data continuously.”

When pushed on whether looking at the data continuously meant tiering could change before the two-week review date, he said: “We’ve set out the statutory obligation to review every two weeks in the winter Covid plan.”

And when Mr Hancock’s words were raised he added: “I believe what the Health Secretary was referring to, as I say, was the fact that we continue to monitor the data continuously.

"There are a whole series of structures and meetings that are in place to do that. And they will continue to happen. But as I said it is set out in the Winter Covid Plan that the first review point will be on 16th.”

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post today Mr Sturdy said: "Given the severe impact that Tier 2 restrictions will have on the local economy in York and the missed opportunity for many businesses in the lead up to Christmas, it would have been reassuring had the Government agreed to my call for local restrictions to be reviewed weekly going forward.

"We have already seen that case rates can change rapidly from one week to the next and the Government must be flexible enough to reflect this in the restrictions. Even with fortnightly reviews, what we really need from the Government is clarity on the data and the criteria that is being used to decide which area goes into each tier.

"This will add transparency to the process enabling us to measure our progress and better inform residents and businesses as to the prospects of the restrictions being eased."

The confusion comes as Boris Johnson faces a Commons showdown with his own MPs next week amid spreading anger on the Conservative benches over the latest system of tiered local controls.

Shipley Conservative MP Philip Davies has already said he would vote against the Government,

And the influential chairman of the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, strongly criticised the Government’s approach, accusing it of infringing people’s “fundamental human rights”.

“The tiers have been applied in an unjust and unfair way – putting whole counties into lockdown when significant areas have very low levels of infection,” he said.

While Steve Baker, leader of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown sceptics, said: “The authoritarianism at work today is truly appalling.

“But is it necessary and proportionate to the threat from this disease?”

Other rebels included former minister Tobias Ellwood, the MP for Bournemouth East, who tweeted: “With only 160 cases per 100k I’m puzzled to see us placed in this tier which will cause further hardship for our hospitality industry.

“I will NOT be supporting the Gov’s motion to introduce this next week.”

But he later said he would likely abstain from the vote rather than vote against the Government.

MPs for North Somerset and Weston-super-Mare said the decision to place the area in Tier 3 “isn’t right nor fair”.

In a joint statement, Dr Liam Fox and John Penrose said: “On our own, North Somerset might well qualify to be in Tier 2, but we have been placed in Tier 3 because we are regarded as ‘a natural travel to work area’ along with Bristol and Gloucestershire.”

They said the decision was “illogical” given that people have been asked to work from home and said the region was being punished for higher infection rates in Bristol.

Some Tory MPs questioned the impact of the recent national lockdown, with some areas leaving the circuit-breaker under tougher restrictions than they had entered it.

Tom Tugendhat, who represents Tonbridge, Edenbridge and Malling in Kent, said: “We went into lockdown at Tier 1 and came out at Tier 3. This isn’t working for us.”

Jonathan Djanogly, MP for Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, tweeted: “My constituency went into second lockdown (against my wishes) at Tier 1 and, with great cost to the Hunts local economy, has come out of lockdown at Tier 2 – am I missing something here!

“I will need to have this justified before voting for it.”

West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin said: “Over 23 million of us were living under Tier 1 restrictions before the lockdown – that figure will be under one million in December.

“There is no logic whatsoever in having a month of lockdown only for people to have to live under an even more severe set of restrictions afterwards.”

The gathering Tory rebellion could leave Mr Johnson dependent on Labour support if he is to get the measures approved.

Shadow health minister Justin Madders said the party will wait to see the detailed regulations before deciding which way to vote.

He suggested the Government could be forced to make concessions on some of the tiering decisions if it is to get through.

Asked whether the Prime Minister was planning to hold any conversations with disgruntled Tory MPs before next week’s vote on the new tiered approach, his spokesman said: “The PM is in regular contact with MPs and that will be no different as we move through this process.

“But the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary have set out the need for the regionalised tiered approach and we’ve been clear in the Winter Covid Plan of the reasons, in terms of reducing the transmission rate of the virus.”

Pressed on whether the Government could look to use the Civil Contingencies Act if the vote on the tiers does not pass through the Commons, the No 10 spokesman said he would “not get into speculation”.

The spokesman said he was not aware whether Mr Johnson had spoken to Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer about the planned post-lockdown measures, following speculation he could need to rely on Labour votes.