The Breakfast Briefing: Tory MPs break cover on lockdown, Keir Starmer’s exit demands - and the furlough ‘cliff edge’
Conservative MPs are increasingly agitated about the lockdown.
3 min read
Your morning guide to what’s moving in Westminster, from PoliticsHome acting editor Matt Honeycombe-Foster
Conservative MPs have so far kept their powder fairly dry on the unprecedented curbs that the coronavirus lockdown is imposing on daily life. But last night, their concerns burst into the open, with a raft of senior Tories breaking cover to warn Boris Johnson that they are not exactly thrilled with the current set-up.
Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, said the public may have been “a little too willing” to comply with the lockdown, and urged an end to “arbitrary” coronavirus lockdown measures “as soon as possible”. Sir Charles Walker, vice-chair of the 1922 Committee, warned of the “bleak” future facing businsses, and put it in no uncertain terms: “We need to have a frank, open and honest debate about the ethics of trading lives tomorrow to save lives today."
Those kinds of eye-watering sums will only add to calls from Conservatives to chart a way out
The wave of warnings touched on three aspects of the lockdown: the huge impact on businesses of keeping staff at home, “over-zealous" policing, and fears that the over-70s could be left behind when the lockdown is eased. These are bread-and-butter issues for many Tory MPs, and those concerns will no doubt be ringing in the ears of the PM ahead of Thursday’s lockdown review.
Last night’s confirmation from Matt Hancock that the Isle of Wight will get to act as guinea pig for the new contact tracing app offers a glimmer of hope as ministers agonise over how to get the country moving again without triggering a second wave of the virus.
But the sheer challenge of lifting lockdown was thrown into sharp relief by the latest figures on furloughing. A staggering 800,000 employers have so far applied to use the scheme, with 6.3m furloughed jobs now covered by the taxpayer. Rishi Sunak last night promised “no cliff edge” for firms when the wage guarantee is eased - but he made clear Treasury officials are actively looking at how to wean businesses off state support as he warned Britain is “potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the NHS". Those kinds of eye-watering sums will only add to calls from Conservatives to chart a way out.
Keir Starmer today calls on the PM to be “honest with the public about the challenges ahead” as he sets out a seven-strong list of demands for a lockdown exit plan ahead of talks between the two leaders later this week. But, as the Labour chief makes clear: “We are in this for the long haul.”
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