Newton Abbot MP won't support the third national lockdown
Anne Marie Morris fears it 'will do more harm than good'
Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris has said she will not support the measures and Lockdown 3, saying it ‘will do more harm than good’.
The Conservative MP says that a national lockdown is not the right solution because the virus is not impacting everywhere equally.
She added that a national lockdown won’t stop those already breaking the rules from continuing to do so, that the lockdown will have consequences on non-covid health conditions and mental health, and that the result of the lockdown will create a ‘poor economy’ which will then drive up ill health.
She is the only one of Devon’s MPs who has indicated that they will not be backing Boris Johnson when MPs get the chance to vote on the restrictions on Wednesday.
Ms Morris, who has been sceptical of previous lockdowns and who voted against the second lockdown, said: “Devon has been both luckier and better prepared than most to deal with the unpredictable impact of Covid. Indeed Devon is taking urgent cases from elsewhere that are not coping. That is the strength – and the duty – of a national NHS. The facts are the virus is not impacting everywhere equally.
“I do not therefore believe a national lockdown is the right solution for the following reasons.
“Clearly we must all take personal responsibility for limiting transmission. And the vast majority of us do. Tiering guidance was helpful. But a national lockdown won’t make bad people good. Our police forces are not equipped to enforce all these new- and confusing rules- across the whole country.
“We should not underestimate the huge steps made to deal with this virus in healthcare terms – including medicines and new vaccines. But it will still spread.
“So we need to get to grips with the urgent priority of properly resourcing our hospitals with the doctors and nurses needed and the oxygen supply in high demand. There are medically qualified people coming forward but not getting to the front line because of bureaucracy and red tape- cut it. The Nightingales have the oxygen and the delivery system – let’s use it not keep them in mothballs.”
She added: “Every action has consequences- some unintended and some unknown. This new lockdown will have as the last ones did very serious non-covid health consequences. It’s not just missed hospital appointments for those with other urgent and acute conditions, it’s the unseen mental health consequences which are just as life threatening as Covid. Mental health problems in the young have doubled.
“The economy and the state of the nation’s health are inextricably linked. It’s easy to say health matters more than the economy- of course it does -but a poor economy will drive up ill health. Depression is sky rocketing. Mental health support isn’t there in the quantity needed- and that will have consequences.
“With so little analysis and so little data across all these issues the government has made a decision to impose lockdown. I cannot support it. I very much fear it will do more harm than good.”
Subject to retrospective approval by MPs on Wednesday, people will have to stay at home and only to leave their house for essential reasons, including shopping, working (if not possible to work from home), exercise, and medical assistance.
Primary and secondary schools and colleges are to move to remote learning, except for children who are vulnerable or whose parents are key workers, and people identified as being clinically extremely vulnerable must begin shielding.
The measures are expected to last until at least February 22.