Yorkshire Tory MP rallies against Government's 'failed strategy of lockdowns and arbitrary restrictions'

The Prime Minister today set out to MPs details of the new restrictions which will come into force from Thursday.

But a growing number of senior MPs on the Conservative backbenches have said they will oppose the new lockdown during a vote on Wednesday.

Shipley Tory MP Philip Davies said: “As a Conservative I don’t believe that collapsing the economy is ever the right solution to any problem. That’s why I thought we’d campaigned so hard to stop the right honourable member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) from becoming Prime Minister.”

And he asked Mr Johnson “how many collapsed businesses and how many job losses he and his Government believe are a price worth paying to continue perusing this failed strategy of lockdowns and arbitrary restrictions”?

While Sir Charles Walker, the vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, said he would vote against the legislation, arguing that the UK is drifting “further into an authoritarian, coercive state”.

But Mr Johnson told Mr Davies: “I share his desire to protect the economy and I believe fervently that we need to get as fast a bounce-back as we possibly can. But I also think, alas, the data is inescapable and that if we are to avert the loss of many thousands of lives this is the only option we face.”

Fellow Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister Esther McVey, who is also Mr Davies’ wife, said she would vote against the four-week lockdown because the “‘lockdown cure’ is causing more harm than Covid”.

And Sir Graham Brady, the influential chair of the Tories’ 1922 Committee, said: “If these kinds of measures were being taken in any totalitarian country around the world, we would be denouncing it as a form of evil.”

The Prime Minister promised MPs a fresh vote on the next stage of measures when “we intend to return” to a regional tiered system on December 2.

And he announced greater support for the self-employed after extending the furlough scheme as pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops are ordered to close. He hailed advances in medicine including “virtually instant” Covid-19 tests and said there is a “real prospect” of a vaccine in the first quarter of next year.

“I believe that these technical developments, taken together, will enable us to defeat this virus by the spring as humanity has defeated every other infectious disease,” he said.

Any rebellion on Wednesday is likely to be symbolic after Labour promised to vote for the measures.

It comes as the House of Commons speaker has demanded a public apology if it is found an MP leaked details of the national lockdown to the press.

Mr Johnson was forced to announce the measures early on Saturday after key details were leaked to newspapers.

Downing Street has launched an inquiry but Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, said any MP found to have leaked details should apologise for displaying “discourteous and unacceptable” behaviour.

He said: “I expect the Prime Minister to keep the House updated on his leak inquiry.

“I also hope that if the leaker is identified and if a member of this House, that member will make a full apology to the House.”