Government braced for backbench rebellion over coronavirus tier system

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Davis urged the Government to operate on “the basis of hard facts” and said the NHS was coping “significantly better” than it usually would at this time of the year.

And he said that looking abroad to countries such as Germany, South Korea, and Vietnam, what had worked was “very, very narrowly targeted” measures and “highly-localised” lockdowns.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced barbed questions from disgruntled Tories this afternoon and is looking to face down a rebellion over his tiers proposal, with many furious that their constituencies face stricter controls than before the latest lockdown.

The Government is expected to win the vote on the new rules – which are due to come into effect tomorrow – after Labour said it would abstain, but a sizeable rebellion on his own benches would be embarrassing for the Prime Minister.

Mr Davis said he would be one of those voting against the Government and that when measures were returned to the Commons in February he hoped ministers would present “massively more targeted restrictions on the local authority level”.

He said: “What we have now is not enough. We must follow the example of Germany, South Korea and others by having restrictions imposed on a much smaller area.

“They work better. They're fairer, and they cause much less economic damage.”

And he added: “We don't know for sure that the blanket lockdown restrictions worked to suppress the virus. But what we do know for sure is the economic damage caused by such restrictions, the impact on people's livelihoods and even their mental health is absolutely clear.

He said: “In this country we do not give up our freedoms lightly. What we need today is a policy of maximum protection for minimum damage, this policy is not it, and I hope the next iteration in February does a much better job.”

Mr Johnson indicated that the Government would look at smaller areas when deciding tiering arrangements in future – a key demand of Tories concerned that low infection rates in some areas were not being reflected in the restrictions being imposed.

“We will try to be as sensitive as possible to local efforts and to local achievements in bringing that pandemic under control,” he added.

Fellow Conservative Robbie Moore, who was elected as MP for Keighley last year, said he would be voting against the Government for the first time with “a huge amount of regret”.

Mr Moore told ITV Calendar: “I’ve got deep concerns about the new Tier 3 restrictions that are actually stricter and more beefed up than what the previous Tier 3 were, and I’ve got huge concerns about our loca independent businesses, particularly the hospitality sector.”

He added: “Whilst the range of packages that the Government [has] provided has been great, what was announced today just wasn’t enough.”

Shipley MP Philip Davies last week said he would also be voting against the Government.

He told the Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper he was “furious” about the tiered system.

And he said: “It’s a continuation of the intolerable restrictions on the freedom of my constituents.

“It’s desperate for the local economy, particularly for the hospitality industry, it is absolutely catastrophic.

“I don’t think destroying the economy is the right solution to it.

“I will be voting against this next Tuesday.”

Labour will abstain from the vote but some of the party’s MPs will go further to vote against the measures, including Leeds East MP Richard Burgon.

Mr Burgon said: “I will be voting against the Government's proposals today. Covid cases have fallen significantly during lockdown but they remain dangerously high. The Government’s proposed tier system and its wider approach over the coming weeks risks a deadly Third Wave.

“It would be better to use the next few weeks until Christmas to extend the lockdown, with proper levels of financial support and sick pay, and use this to get the virus down to much more manageable levels that would give Test and Trace a better chance of succeeding.

“This would not only save lives but make it more likely that we could avoid further lockdowns in the new year - helping to give businesses the certainty they need rather than constant stopping and starting they currently face.”

Mr Johnson’s attempts to reassure his party comes after Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, made up of lockdown-sceptic Tories, said the “wheels are coming off the Government’s arguments” for further controls.

MPs were left unhappy that impact assessments of the tiered system, published on Monday ahead of the Commons vote, did not include a detailed breakdown of the effects of the measures on different parts of the economy.

That feeling was further compounded after a report in the Times suggested there is a Whitehall dashboard showing Covid-19’s impact on almost 40 sectors of the economy, with a red rating – indicating significant job cuts and revenue losses – against dozens of them, including aerospace, the automotive industry, retail, hospitality and tourism, arts and sport.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he had not seen the so-called “secret dossier”, despite being one of the major players when it comes to deciding on Covid rules.

Downing Street defended the decision not to publish the analysis, which it said had been put together by the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Any attempt to estimate the specific economic impacts of precise changes to individual restrictions for a defined period of time will be subject to such wide uncertainty as to not be meaningful for precise policy making.

“The data used on this dashboard is drawn from publicly available sources. Throughout the pandemic you have seen us publish a wide variety of data. That will continue to be the case.”

Other Tory MPs said they would back the Government but remained unhappy.

Elmet and Rothwell Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke said there was much more support needed for hospitality.

He said: “I’m afraid I’ve got to say that the announcement the Prime Minister made today for wet pubs is risible, it’s not good enough.”

And after reading messages from constituents detailing their struggles, he added: “Please minister, people need more support than they are getting.”

He said: “We need to get control ASAP. And we need to help businesses stop dying, we need to put them on life support, we're taking away their lifeblood and we haven't heard enough of that today.”

He said like many people in the country he was trying to stay positive, but he said: “It is hard, I wake up every morning feeling angry.”

But he said: “The disease is the same today as it was at the beginning of the year. I've seen my parents for three hours since February. I was hoping to be able to meet for Christmas, or longing for it.

“But as with so many other families now it cannot happen because the pandemic has fundamentally not changed.”

He added: “Now I've had a huge amount of correspondence, threatening me called me every name under the sun if I vote for these restrictions tonight but being a Member of Parliament is about holistic, tough decisions, not hiding away and dodging leadership that we’re once again seeing from the other side of the House, but actually saying that we don't like it, we've got to make these decisions.”

He added: “ I will be voting for these restrictions tonight, but the package which has been put into place for the hospitality industry at the most profitable time of the year is just not good enough.”