BORIS Johnson tonight won a vote to rubber stamped a six month extension of the Covid laws until September – as the lockdown roadmap remained on track.
A handful of Tory MPs rebelled in protest and said it was inappropriate to continue to give sweeping powers to ministers for months to come, when Britain may be long past the worst of the pandemic.
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But as Labour backed the plans, the plans to extend the Coronavirus Act sailed through the Commons comfortably – by 484 to 76, and a majority of 408.
Earlier in the debate Mr Hancock sparked more anger as he was unable to say whether the Covid emergency powers would be extended again after September.
The wide-ranging powers can give ministers the power to shut pubs, detain individuals spreading the virus, but also cut red tape in the NHS and allow for sick and furlough pay too.
Some Tories think that they are “out of step” with the lockdown easing, with all of life back to normal by the end of June – and is calling for the rules to be suspended after that.
Mr Hancock said today that the laws “remain essential” but promised “we will only retail powers as long as they are necessary”.
“They are exceptional powers for the most extreme of situations and must be seen in this light.”
But Tory MP Charles Walker said he believed ministers would try and push them again in six months.
He said: “It is inevitable and anyone who thinks it’s not inevitable is deluding themselves.”
Chairman of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady is also voting against, he said today, adding: “it is important we make the case for a return to normality and trusting people with their own lives”.
He said he did not want to normalise a “very extreme policy response”.
The vote also rubber stamped large £5,000 fines for people in England and Wales if they travel without a valid reason.
It comes as:
- Britain’s jabs roll-out has saved 6,600 lives since it launched, Matt Hancock said last night
- Over-50s have been urged to book their jabs now
- EU leaders are holding an emergency summit on vaccines tonight where export bans could be introduced
- But last night Brussels backed down from threats and said it wanted a “win win” scenario to increase supplies across both nations
- Boris Johnson today warned that vaccine passports were on the cards – but they wouldn’t affect pub beer gardens opening on April 12 as normal
- He said it wasn’t likely that they would be introduced before every person had been offered a vaccine
MPs also rubber stamped the regulations for the route out of lockdown – which will end in June when it’s hoped all restrictions can be lifted.
Those will be reviewed every 35 days as part of the PM’s plans – and could be altered later down the line if things go well, or take a turn for the worse.
And MPs will also extend the emergency powers in the Coronavirus Act – which will stay in place until September.
MP Mark Harper said this morning: “It discriminates against people that either can’t be vaccinated, for example, pregnant women, or younger people who at the back of the queue who won’t be vaccinated for some time, and also potentially discriminates against people from those groups, where we know there’s a significant amount of vaccine hesitancy.
“But also, I don’t understand the logic of it once you’ve vaccinated those in the community who are most vulnerable from COVID and we’ve got high take up and you’ve got herd immunity. I don’t understand the logic for this at all…
“If you have to prove your vaccine status to do normal everyday things like going to the pub or going shopping you are effectively making vaccination compulsory which is not something we have ever done in this country and the government says it is against.”
Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group said the vote was a “rare opportunity” for MPs to “say no to a new way of life in a checkpoint society”.
It came as the PM confirmed Covid certificates are on the cards for people to show they’ve had the vaccine, a negative test or can show they have had Covid.
But pub bosses are worried it will hamper their recovery after months shut up due to the virus.
Trade body UKHospitality criticised the prospect of pubs and restaurants being subject to vaccine certificates as “simply unworkable” and said it could cause conflict between staff and customers.
The boss of the Shepherd Neame chain said on Thursday that making jabs mandatory for entry to pubs is a “fairly poorly thought out idea”.
No10 stressed last night people would be able to give a negative Covid test as well as a vaccine stamp.
It was reported last night that pubs which can show negative tests or a vaccine may be able to scrap social distancing laws altogether.
Several reviews into vaccine passports and whether they are ethical are due back ahead of more unlocking in May or June.
The PM’s comments on vaccine passports contradict previous remarks where he said he did NOT think vaccine passports were suitable for the pub.
Children’s minister Vicky Ford, told Sky News this morning: “When we set out the road map way back in February to show us the way out of this lockdown, one of the things we said was that there would be reviews of different situations and there was always in that road map a review of the certifications (of having received a vaccine) and use of testing.
“And that review – which looks at how you would use vaccines, how you would use testing to keep settings safe when we go to that widest reopening – that is due before the fourth stage of the lockdown, so it has always been very clear we would be looking at all the different measures in order to take that really widest step.”
