Are Tory constituencies dodging lockdowns?

LONDON, 06 Oct. - (ANA) - The government is exempting staunchly Conservative regions of the country from localised lockdowns, according to leaked emails from a leading health expert to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

No. 10 is “under growing pressure” to explain the decision to place “large parts of the North and Midlands under local lockdowns while overlooking constituencies with similar infection rates” that are represented by Tories including Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, The Sunday Times reports.

Johnson told MPs on Friday that “I appreciate... people want to see an iron consistency applied across the whole country”. But the current restrictions have prompted a director of public health to accuse the prime minister of handing an “economic ‘double whammy’ to more challenged areas”, the emails reveal.

When officials first imposed regional lockdowns back in late June, they intervened in wards where the weekly coronavirus infection rate exceeded 60 new cases per 100,000.

Yet Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s constituency last week had 73 new cases for every 100,000 people, while fellow cabinet member Robert Jenrick’s is currently at 84.

With neither subjected to lockdown measures, Downing Street is under growing pressure to explain why looser rules are being applied in staunchly Conservative regions.  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/06 October 2020 - - -