Several newspapers have recently published online and in print Somerton & Frome MP David Warburton’s long justification for his vote against the latest lockdown. However, a review by the fact checking charity Full Fact reveals that many of his claims about the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK are misleading and inaccurate.

Their full review can be read here https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-claims-david-warburton/. It is worth a read. Once you take away the misleading and inaccurate claims, including about the mortality rate in the UK, excess deaths due to Covid-19, non-Covid deaths due to the restrictions, and survival rates for different age groups, there is not much of an argument left.

To ensure accuracy, I hope our MP can correct or retract his misleading statements. People should be able to trust their MP to get their facts straight. 

Such claims also serve to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic and the dangers we face from the virus. Last year the UK’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said that keeping the number of deaths below 20,000 would be a good outcome. Now over 100,000 people have now died with Covid-19 in the UK, a tragedy for the country and every affected family.

There must be a public inquiry into the reasons for the Government’s abject failure to control the virus, which is why we are in another lockdown and why many of us are having such a tough time physically, mentally, emotionally and economically.

One reason will be Boris Johnson’s failure to lockdown soon enough at least three times, and many other mistakes. In a liberal and democratic society, restrictions on our civil liberties can only be justified by the prevention of harm to others, the ‘harm principle’. But the reasons for the lockdown should be blatantly obvious to every MP – to prevent great harm by reducing the spread of a deadly virus through the community, preventing severe illness and saving lives. Most people can understand this is necessary, until the spread of the virus is suppressed in the community and enough people are vaccinated, and that we should not (as David Warburton proposes) lift restrictions too early to allow the virus to spread again.

Government must then act to eliminate the virus, to prevent any more lockdowns being needed, including financial support for people testing positive to effectively self-isolate, border controls with quarantine for overseas travellers, and a working Track and Trace system. Of course we are all fed up, and I applaud everyone who supports their families and community through their work and caring roles. A better future awaits us, but only when we have defeated the virus, which is not served by downplaying it. 

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