Bognor and Littlehampton MP welcomes roadmap out of lockdown

Yesterday Boris Johnson announced that schools and colleges would reopen on March 8, with two people from different households also allowed to meet outside for recreation.

Then from March 29, people will be allowed to meet outside within the rule of six, while the stay at home rule will come to an end with people encouraged to stay local.

Some outdoor sports facilities will reopen and formally organised outdoor sports can also start up again.

Step two, which would happen no early than April 12, would see the reopening of non-essential shops and personal care such as hairdressers.

Step three no earlier than May 17 would see most outdoor social contact rules lifted, while it is hoped step four, no earlier than June 21, would see all legal limits on social contact removed.

Nick Gibb, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton MP, said: “I am very pleased that schools are going back on 8 March. This is the right thing for children’s education, social development and for their wellbeing. It will also come as a huge relief to many parents who have had to juggle their work with home schooling.

“It is very important for us all as individuals and for the economy that this is the last lockdown. We have to be sure that we don’t allow a new resurgence of the virus, which is why the Prime Minister’s roadmap is sensibly phased with gaps built in to assess the impact.

The pandemic has been very difficult for everyone, and for many it has been a time of tragedy and grief. There has been severe economic and personal stress as businesses have struggled or failed and people’s jobs have been lost. This is why the multi-billion pound support package has been so important and why it is so vital that we emerge from this lockdown cautiously, taking step by step checking the data as we go. We mustn’t take risks with this virulent and deadly virus.

“Throughout the pandemic we have witnessed heroism from people working on the front line: the NHS staff, teachers, supermarket staff, delivery people and many more. We have seen kindness and understanding from strangers and stoicism from people confined and alone in their homes.

“We are all longing for the spring and a steady return to something like normal life. Today’s announcement gives us the best hope of achieving just that.”

He also paid tribute to the doctors, nurses and volunteers at the vaccination centre in Bognor Regis for the progress they have made in vaccinating over 27,000 residents in the Bognor Regis area.

He said: “It is an amazing achievement for the doctors, nurses and volunteers to have vaccinated over 27,000 residents since the beginning of January. All top four cohorts have been offered vaccines and well over 90 per cent of those over the age of 75 have been vaccinated.

“I also understand that most of the over-70 age group will also have been vaccinated.

“This is all thanks to the dedication and commitment of the doctors and nurses from the nine local GP practices and the many volunteers who are supporting them.”

Yesterday, Mr Johnson said: “No vaccine can ever be 100 per cent effective, nor will everyone take them up, and like all viruses, Covid-19 will mutate.

“So, as the modelling released by SAGE today shows, we cannot escape the fact that lifting lockdown will result in more cases, more hospitalisations and sadly more deaths.

“This would happen whenever lockdown is lifted, whether now or in six or nine months, because there will always be some vulnerable people who are not protected by the vaccine.

“There is therefore no credible route to a Zero Covid Britain or indeed a Zero Covid World and we cannot persist indefinitely with restrictions that debilitate our economy, our physical and mental well-being, and the life-chances of our children.

“And that is why it is so crucial that this roadmap should be cautious but also irreversible. We are setting out on what I hope and believe is a one way road to freedom. And this journey is made possible by the pace of the vaccination programme.

“In England, everyone in the top four priority groups was successfully offered a vaccine by the middle of February. We now aim to offer a first dose to all those in groups 5 to 9 by 15 April, and I am setting another stretching target: to offer a first dose to every adult by the end of July.

“As more of us are inoculated, so the protection afforded by the vaccines will gradually replace the restrictions and today’s roadmap sets out the principles of that transition.”