The NHS could be “broken” as hospitals become “overwhelmed” by the COVID pandemic if MPs do not support tough new lockdown restrictions, one of the Government’s most senior ministers has said.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove (pictured) is urging fellow Tory MPs, especially, to back the new system, which begins tomorrow.
Many of his Conservative colleagues are opposed to the new restrictions, which they claim may do more long-term physical, mental and financial damage in the long run.
But writing in the Times, Gove said MPs need to “take responsibility for difficult decisions”.
When England’s four-week national lockdown ends on Wednesday, regions will be placed in one of three tiers: medium, high and very high.
In total, 99% of England will enter the highest two tiers, with tight restrictions on bars and restaurants and a ban on households mixing indoors. Only Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and Isles of Scilly will be in the lowest tier.
Labour is yet to decide whether it will support the new restrictions but has warned that areas in tier three will be stretched to “breaking point” without additional financial support from the Treasury.
But Gove has defended the new system, writing in the Times that, unless action to slow the spread of coronavirus is taken, the NHS could be “broken” and hospitals “physically overwhelmed”.
He wrote: “The tiers we had in place before the lockdown had not suppressed [COVID] sufficiently: they were neither strong enough to reduce social contact sufficiently, nor applied widely enough to contain the virus’s spread.”
Across the UK, about 16,000 beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, compared to a peak in April of almost 20,000 and a low of 740 on 11 September.
He continued: “When the country is facing such a national crisis, the truth is that all of us who have been elected to Parliament, not just ministers, must take responsibility for difficult decisions.”