EMMA LEWELL-BUCK: Government politicising covid and worsening north/south divide

I, and others, voted against these restrictions being imposed on Tuesday night, but we were not in the majority. Had we been, things may look very different right now.

I voted for the last lockdown through gritted teeth, although I felt its impact would be weakened because it should have happened sooner. There should have been an earlier, stricter lockdown and schools should not have remained open.

Had that happened, I really feel we would be in a stronger position.

People can adhere to regulations and infringements on their liberties and freedoms, they can make sacrifices if they know it will only be for a limited period of time. However, we are now in a very different scenario. We are being told that the tiering system may be with us in varying guises until March.

The last national lockdown was an opportunity squandered by the Government. It was a chance to sort out the shambles that is test, track, trace and isolate. But they failed and the impact is that every single day people continue to contract this terrible virus.

Good will is wearing thin. We have watched the Government engage in disgusting levels of "chumocracy” and still fail to come up with any strategic or meaningful support for our communities.

Mixed messaging and ever-shifting rules and regulations have caused confusion. Their mass testing roll-out hasn’t even been property planned for, there is neither the resource nor capacity for them to deliver on their promises, and they know it.

We can all see what is happening to the economy, we can all see and feel the impact this is having on loneliness, mental health, poverty and delays in cancer treatments.

There is no extra support for those areas in Tier 3 compared to those in Tier two. It has been reported that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet debated at length based on the infection rates whether to put London into Tier 3 with us but decided that the jobs of Londoners and their economy was worth more than our jobs and our economy here in South Shields.

The Government is playing politics with the pandemic, exacerbating the north/south divide and pitting communities against each other. This is no longer a purely public health response to the pandemic.

The opportunity was lost this week to force the Government to come back with a strategic plan, something that meant we could return safely and responsibly to normal life, that provided clear public health messaging, indicated how areas can move from these restrictive tiers, that gave proper, equitable financial support to our businesses and public services, protected our most vulnerable and didn’t write off our economy.

I know we have very difficult times ahead. We must live by these restrictions. Our community has always been the very best at working together and supporting each other. We will see our way out of this, I am confident of that.