In a speech in the House of Commons last night Dr Ben Spencer MP welcomed the progress towards a vaccine for covid, but highlighted the need for an enduring plan to live with the virus until this can be delivered.
Current national covid restrictions are due to end on 2 December, when Parliament will have to decide what future measures are needed to prevent the continuing spread of covid. Over the next two weeks the Government will determine what measures it feels are needed to control the pandemic. Dr Spencer, along with other members of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG), is campaigning to avoid further blanket lockdown measures and for the creation of a long term plan for living with the impact of covid.
The CRG is a group of Conservative backbench MPs, chaired by former Chief Whip Mark Harper. Its members are calling on government to ensure the economic impact of lockdown measures are fully considered as well as for the scientific data and advice being given to government to be fully available for scrutiny and debate.
In his speech Dr Spencer highlighted that the successful roll out of a vaccine may still be months away and until this can be delivered we need a long term plan to prevent further lockdowns. The full speech is available above.