Former Tory MP Andrew Bridgen links excess deaths to Covid vaccinations

The Independent MP called it ‘the greatest medical scandal in this country in living memory, and possibly ever’.

The Independent MP was expelled from the Conservative Party last year for comparing Covid-19 vaccines to the Holocaust (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Archive)

MP Andrew Bridgen has drawn links between a recorded rise in excess deaths in the UK and Covid vaccinations, describing it as “the greatest medical scandal in this country in living memory”.

Mr Bridgen also accused nurses who were working during the pandemic of performing TikTok dances while patients died.

In April last year, Mr Bridgen was expelled from the Conservative Party for comparing Covid-19 vaccines to the Holocaust.

Opening the debate on the Covid-19 pandemic response and excess deaths, the Independent MP argued there would be “less groupthink” if more MPs had a science background.

The North West Leicestershire MP told the Commons: “We are witnesses to the greatest medical scandal in this country in living memory, and possibly ever. The excess deaths in 2022 and 2023 is that scandal. Its causes are complex but the novel and untested medical treatment described as a Covid vaccine is a large part of the problem.

“I’ve been called an anti-vaxxer, as if I rejected these vaccines based on some ideology. I want to state clearly and unequivocally that I have not. I am in fact double vaccinated and vaccine harmed.”

This debate and others like it is going to be poured over by future generations and they will be genuinely agog that the evidence has been ignored for so long, and that genuine concerns were disregarded, and those raising them were gaslit, speared and vilified

Andrew Bridgen MP

He added: “I’m proud to be one of the few Members of Parliament with a science degree, it’s a great shame there are not more members with a science background in this place. Maybe if there were, there would be less reliance on whips office briefings, more independent research and perhaps less groupthink.

“And I’ll say to the House, and I’ll say it in all seriousness, this debate and others like it is going to be poured over by future generations and they will be genuinely agog that the evidence has been ignored for so long, and that genuine concerns were disregarded, and those raising them were gaslit, speared and vilified.

“And you don’t need any science training at all to be horrified by officials deliberately hiding key data in this scandal, and that’s exactly what’s going on.”

Multiple hospitals introduced a policy that they would not admit patients with DNRs (do not resuscitate) because they thought that they'd be overwhelmed, and the result is people died who didn't need to die while nurses performed TikTok dances

Andrew Bridgen MP

Mr Bridgen argued that 20,000 premature deaths in 2023 had been “airbrushed” away by officials.

He continued: “Multiple hospitals introduced a policy that they would not admit patients with DNRs (do not resuscitate) because they thought that they’d be overwhelmed, and the result is people died who didn’t need to die while nurses performed TikTok dances.”

Following Mr Bridgen’s contribution, cheers and clapping could be heard coming from the House of Commons public gallery where a crowd of his supporters had gathered.

Mr Bridgen was also a member of Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party between May and December last year, before resigning over a “difference in direction”.

Alba Party MP Neale Hanvey (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) questioned the credibility of the vaccine trials, adding: “The loss of trust in big pharma is substantial and worryingly, because of this, the value of vaccination itself has been deeply damaged.

“Personally, I say this absolutely frankly, I will never accept another mRNA vaccine and I am far from alone.”

Labour’s shadow health minister Andrew Gwynne said: “For millions of us, vaccines have been a game changer in overcoming the worst fears of Covid-19. They’ve allowed us to return to normality, and most importantly of all it saved lives.

“We do however need to understand more as to why for some the vaccine has cause reactions, and in some cases it may have tragically led to mortality.”

He added: “But investigation and review should not be allowed to frighten people who are deeply vulnerable – still to this day – from taking the Covid vaccine boosters.”

Intervening, Conservative MP Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) said MPs should “encourage research, fill the (evidence) gap, so that potentially wild, untested theories do not fill that vacuum”.

Health minister Maria Caulfield said there had been excess deaths in recent years, adding: “But excess deaths are not new, they were before Covid and they are since Covid as well.

“But it’s important to look at the figures because the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicates that the number of excess deaths has been reducing year-on-year since the high of 2020, where there were 66,740 excess deaths in England.”

If there are concerns, we will always look into them, but there is no doubt that Covid vaccines save lives

Health minister Maria Caulfield

She added: “In 2022, that went down to 37,701 and in 2023 there were just 10,206 excess deaths in England.”

Ms Caulfield said the ONS had reported “negative excess deaths for every week so far in 2024”.

Conservative Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) praised health staff for “battling to save people” during the pandemic.

Ms Caulfield, who along with Dr Mullan helped on the NHS front line, said: “We treated every single patient in the best way we could.”

She also told MPs: “If there are concerns, we will always look into them, but there is no doubt that Covid vaccines save lives.

“There’s no doubt some people have experienced harm from that, we acknowledge that, we want to help and support people who have been affected, but the vaccines did get us out of the pandemic and we need to be mindful of that.”