In an address to the nation, the Prime Minister tonight said there was “no immediate end to the lockdown” but made a number of changes to the current rules affecting a variety of businesses and impacting on peoples’ lives.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s statement today Portsmouth South’s Stephen Morgan MP raised concerns over the lack of clarity over the Government’s plans.
The city MP said:
“The Government’s priority must be protecting the public’s health and saving lives. That is why I supported the lockdown in the first place and again support the restrictions staying in place at this time.
Sadly tonight’s statement from the Government lacks detail causing confusion for our communities and for our businesses.
When we need maximum clarity, the Prime Minister has decided to go it alone on messaging, whilst his Ministers toured the TV studios making things worse. This exposes a serious lack of coordination from Government, when the message to the public must remain clear and simple.
Portsmouth people told me they wanted a clear plan today. Instead all we got was more questions than answers from this Government”.
Labour has set out seven core principles that it is urging the Government to adopt to ensure public services, businesses and people are supported and kept safe.
Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Labour Party, added:
“This statement raises more questions than it answers, and we see the prospect of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland pulling in different directions.
The Prime Minister appears to be effectively telling millions of people to go back to work without a clear plan for safety or clear guidance as to how to get there without using public transport.
What the country wanted tonight was clarity and consensus, but we haven’t got either of those.”
