MPs back return to normal but urge public to show common sense
Plans to end Covid restrictions have been cautiously welcomed by MPs – who warned that rising cases were still a major concern.
Boris Johnson announced that most of the remaining measures will be lifted on July 19 as the country makes a decisive move back to normality.
The changes will see the one-metre-plus rule scrapped, while pubs will be able to serve drinks at the bar and mask wearing will no longer be compulsory.
MPs in the Black Country and Staffordshire today broadly welcomed plans to get the economy moving, although concerns still remain over rising cases, as well as issues including the high number of young people being sent home from school to self-isolate.
Others warned that the arrival of new strains of the virus could send the country "back to square one".
Michael Fabricant, Conservative MP for Lichfield, said: "I certainly support the need to try and return to a degree of normality. Although infection rates are climbing steadily, the overall death rate is currently below the national five-year average, and is particularly so in Staffordshire.
"It really is time for people to use their common sense. If they are in a crowded, enclosed space, then some may wish to use protective masks, and I believe, regular hand-washing is the most important thing of all to avoid cross infection.
"Those who are not vaccinated, however, should take extra care and I urge everyone over the age of 18 to get vaccinated if they haven't already done so.
"These steps to normality, however, are fragile. If another variant emerges which can evade the vaccine, we will be back to square one. What won't return to normality is overseas travel. This is not just a decision of the British government, but of governments abroad over which we have no control.
"Britain is the most vaccinated in Europe, so I can understand why countries with fewer people immune to the disease are nervous."
John Spellar, Labour MP for Warley, said the ending of restrictions was "most welcome and necessary".
"We've got to get the economy and society moving," he said. "The folk in the West Midlands are desperate to get back to normality, but we must keep on with the vaccine programme and people have still got to be careful.
"Covid has not gone away but we're on our way to containing it."
Shadow City Minister Pat McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East, said: “We all want to get back to normal life after 16 months of restrictions and lockdowns and the vaccine programme should help us do that.
"But there are still important things to sort out, most obviously financial support for people being asked to isolate and the number of children still being sent home from school, plus of course infection rates are rising and about a third of the population still haven’t had both jabs.
"There is no point in declaring 'freedom day' with a grand hurrah if there is still huge disruption to education taking place. The Government must focus on these issues, not just the date.”
Conservative Stafford MP Theo Clarke, said: “I am pleased that, thanks to the hard work of everyone involved in our vaccination programme and the efforts that everyone throughout the country has made to slow the spread of coronavirus over the last year and a half, we can now be cautiously optimistic and look to loosening coronavirus restrictions and fully reopening our economy.”
West Bromwich East MP Nicola Richards, said: "Now we have broken the link between infections and deaths, I think we have got to get on with things."
She also stressed the need for the vaccine rollout to continue at pace, and called for more volunteers to come forward to support it.
