Top Tories demand Boris Johnson ends ‘constant cycle’ of Covid lockdowns

TOP Tories have demanded Boris Johnson ends a “constant cycle” of Covid lockdowns.

Party grandees urged the PM for an exit strategy from further shutdowns as millions more Brits were slapped with stricter regulations.

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PA:Press Association

Tory grandees have demanded Boris Johnson puts an end to a ‘constant cycle’ of coronavirus lockdowns[/caption]

SWNS:South West News Service

A sign in Bolton, Lancs, warns people not to mix with other households[/caption]

Senior Conservatives have expressed mounting anger at the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis as Boris faces a Tory rebellion over the government’s Tier Three lockdown plans for the north of England.

Sir Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 bankbenchers’ committee, insisted “circuit breakers” to battle the virus are “pointless”.

Sir Graham said: “If further restrictions on people’s lives are proposed, the Government has to set a clear end date and a strategy for returning life to normal.”

Former Chancellor Lord Lamont warned constant lockdowns are “deeply damaging to business.”

BORIS WARNING

There are fears another lockdown could wipe a least 5 per cent from GDP with Mr Johnson risking looking “blasé” about people’s lives, an expert warned.

Writing in The Telegraph, James Frayne, a former focus group research for the Government, warned Downing Street against more lockdowns.

Mr Frayne said: “Opinion will shift fast with public realisation of the economic trauma set to befall us.

“Oddly, politicians have mostly kept this hidden from the public to date. 

“But when Government reduces personal and business support… people will see the direct trade-offs being made: essentially, health versus living standards.”

PA:Press Association

Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham rejected the tougher measures[/caption]

Reuters

Sir Graham Brady has also slammed the proposal[/caption]

He added: “If they are not careful, they are going to look like they are blasé about the lives of ordinary people across the country.”

It comes as Mr Johnson faces a Tory rebellion over Number 10’s lockdown plans for part of the north of England.

Backbench Tory MPs have joined forces with Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham who accused the Government of treating the North “with contempt” by bringing in unproven measures “on the cheap”.

The latest measures in England, which will see half of the country in lockdown, sparked fury among Conservative MPs who accused the PM of smuggling in a national lockdown by the back door.

London, Essex and York were among regions plunged into tighter Tier 2 restrictions from midnight on Friday.

The rules mean millions of people in the regions are banned from meeting friends and family inside their household.

Liverpool City Region and Lancashire are now in Tier 3, the highest level of restrictions.

But some Tory MPs believe the MP has sacrificed businesses in London to kill off claims he was punishing the North with a stricter lockdown.