Boris Johnson faces down Tory rebels as Parliament votes on new Tier system

BORIS Johnson is today facing down Tory rebels in Parliament as MPs are set to vote on the new Tier system tonight.

The PM is opening the debate in the House of Commons this lunchtime as he desperately tries to woo his backbenchers to back his plan.

The PM is expected to set out major concessions to MPs to try and persuade them to back the Government tonight in a vote at around 7pm.

Government sources have suggested that the rebellion could be as high as three figures.

But MPs slapped down the suggestion – saying it was likely to be as low as a third of that.

Steve Baker tweeted: “That is an absurd over egging… This is an agonising decision for many MPs today.”

Meanwhile, MPs have been holding discussions with the Health Secretary and others, who are furious about being put into higher tiers than they feel they deserve.

This morning John Penrose shared a letter from the Health Secretary suggesting that the regions may be able to be carved up into smaller bits than before – in what would be a huge climbdown to the rebels.

Boris and the Government have defended the system, saying they have to apply blanket rules over big areas.

It led to MPs for areas in Kent, which has been shoved from Tier 1 to Tier 3, cry that the rules were unfair on their areas with lower cases.

The same happened in North Somerset, where rates are mostly low but it has been brought into line as a result of higher clusters of cases nearby.