Coronavirus: Influential Tory ‘inclined’ to oppose tier system, as Boris Johnson faces growing rebellion

Tory revolt could leave PM reliant on Labour votes to impose new system

The highly influential chair of a Conservative backbench committee has said he is “inclined” to vote against proposals for regional coronavirus restrictions, amid growing signs Boris Johnson may face a significant rebellion from his own party.

Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, said the government had so far failed to provide the impact assessments demanded by 70 Tory MPs to justify placing regions in the tougher tier 2 or 3 of the new system, which he said would be “extremely damaging” to local economies.

MPs are lobbying hard ahead of the allocation of restriction levels on Thursday for their areas to be kept out of tier 2, under which hospitality venues can open only if serving “substantial meals” or tier 3, where they are restricted to takeaways and deliveries only.

The British Beer and Pub Association has warned that the restrictions could “destroy” the sector, with 90 per cent of pubs unviable under tier 2 and all of them under tier 3.

The new tightened restrictions are due to come into effect on 2 December, with more than half of England expected to be placed in the top two levels, which also include stringent controls on social mixing. 

Decisions on tiers will be based on advice from the Joint Biosecurity Committee on the prevalence and growth of the disease in an area, and ministers insist there will be no negotiations with local MPs and councils. 

If all 70 Tories of the Covid Recovery Group oppose the PM’s plan in a Commons vote planned for early next week, Mr Johnson would be left relying on Labour MPs to push the tiered system through. But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has yet to guarantee his party’s support

Sir Graham, who represents Altrincham and Sale in Greater Manchester, which was under tier 3 restrictions when England went into its second lockdown on 5 November, said businesses had already put measures in place to limit the risk to staff and customers.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “My concern is that huge numbers of businesses particularly, but not exclusively, in the hospitality sector have been losing money under tier 2 already and there is a very tight limit to how much longer they can go on doing that without seeing even bigger levels of unemployment, and, particularly, youth unemployment coming towards us.”

Sir Graham said: “The tiers that are being envisaged, particularly the even more stringent tier 3, would be extremely damaging for places that find themselves locked in it.

“My preference is to move to a very different approach, which would be trusting people more, asking people to use their own judgment and common sense to protect themselves, and to protect others.”

Pressed on whether he would vote against further tiered restrictions, Sir Graham said: “I don’t know yet what the substance of the votes that will offered will be, but my inclination would be to oppose this.”

Health ministers fielded concerns from MPs about the tiers where their constituencies could be placed in a series of video calls, with strong resistance voiced to tier 3 status for London, Greater Manchester and Liverpool.

Conservative former health minister and Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond said there was “no evidence” justifying the top tier for the capital.

“We all recognise we need to act responsibly to defeat the virus but strangling so many London small businesses would be wrong,” he said.

And Bromley & Chislehurst MP Sir Bob Neill said tier 3 would be “completely unacceptable and economically crippling" for London and “should not be done to appease other parts of the country”.

The city’s mayor Sadiq Khan said London’s leaders were united that tier 2 would be “the right and sensible decision” for the capital, which was placed under the “high level” restrictions shortly before the second lockdown.

“London’s unique ecosystem of bars, businesses, restaurants, clubs and cultural venues have been through an extremely tough year,” said Mr Khan. “If they had to close throughout the Christmas period and beyond in tier 3, it would be a hammer blow that many might not recover from.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram said he was hoping the area would not be placed back in tier 3, after steep declines in infections since the “very high level” restrictions were imposed last month.

“The progress we've made since we were put in tier 3 is remarkable,” said Mr Rotheram. “We’ve gone from having two areas with infection rates of about 750 per 100,000 to 180 across the city region.”

There was opposition from MPs to tiers being imposed on a blanket basis across whole regions where infection rates may vary widely.

Tory MP for Hazel Grove William Wragg said his constituency should be treated independently from the rest of Greater Manchester, arguing: “We need to make sure that local Covid data is used when decisions are being made about tiers.”

Lancaster and Fleetwood’s Labour MP Cat Smith said she told ministers that they should take into account the fact that infection rates in her constituency are well below the rest of Lancashire before putting the whole county back into tier 3 next week.

Devon MPs lobbied ministers to keep their county in tier 1, though South West Devon’s Sir Gary Streeter said the decision “could be touch and go”.