Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Boris Johnson’s introduction of new restrictions have received a sullen reception at best from his own benches in the House of Commons. But when he stood at the despatch box on Wednesday, it was immediately clear that all but the most indefatigable libertarians were reconciled to the latest national lockdown.
The atmosphere at Westminster and throughout London, where an estimated one person in 30 had the virus last week, has changed dramatically since the new variant began to drive infections to unprecedented levels.
Most people on the busier streets near parliament now wear masks and those who were loose with the rules before are now fully compliant with official instructions to stay at home.
Snap polls show almost 80 per cent of the population backing the national lockdown and MPs voted for it on Wednesday night by an even bigger margin, with 524 in favour and just 16 against. Those who voted No included four DUP MPs, with the other four abstaining.
Basic liberties
Sammy Wilson said the lockdown would cause thousands of businesses to go bankrupt, cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, damage children's education, lead the national debt to soar and remove basic liberties from people that we expect in a free democracy in an attempt to suppress the virus, and protect the NHS and the vulnerable.
“Since those objectives were not achieved by the first two lockdowns, why does the prime minister believe that they will be achieved this time?” he said.
Among the 12 Conservatives who voted against the measures was Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, who has been one of the leading critics of coronavirus restrictions. Even he could not ignore the case for action in the face of surging infections but he questioned whether a national lockdown was necessary, particularly since the prime minister said it could last until the end of March.
Reach their target
Johnson can afford to upset some of his backbenchers if the vaccine roll-out means that this lockdown will be the last. Britain is ahead of its neighbours in distributing the vaccine and the government are confident they can reach their target of vaccinating the 13 million most vulnerable in the next six weeks.
Johnson promised “a gradual unwrapping” of restrictions as the vaccination programme progresses and the pace of that unwrapping is set to be the subject of his next wrangle with his backbenchers.