British Prime Minister Boris Johnson succeeded in pushing through Parliament strict restrictions against the new coronavirus after confinement in England on Tuesday December 1, despite a rebellion from MPs from his conservative camp, worried about their impact.
After a month of confinement, the British province of England will return to its old three-level local warning system on Wednesday, after a vote won by 291 votes to 78 in the lower house of Parliament.
Read also: The United Kingdom facing the double penalty of Covid-19 and Brexit at the end of the year
"
We welcome tonight's vote which ends (containment) and brings England back to a system of local restrictions,
" a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said, "
this will help preserve the progress made during the last month and keep the virus under control
”.
This set of very restrictive measures, which concern nearly 99% of the English population, was adopted Tuesday evening despite a rebellion of 55 Conservative MPs and the abstention of 16 others.
This is the biggest rebellion suffered by Boris Johnson since his election, he who had already had to face in October the discontent of 42 Tories when he imposed a curfew at 10 p.m. on pubs and restaurants.
Before the vote, Boris Johnson had tried to calm the anger of the rebel Tories, asking them to be "
realistic
" and "
to accept (the fact) that there is no vaccine yet
", which alone will allow a return to a normal life ”.
"
Until then, we can not afford to relax us, especially during the cold winter months
"
,
he added.
Because "
if the virus is contained, it has not been eradicated
", despite the decline initiated by the contaminations.
Thanks to his comfortable majority of 80 seats, the Prime Minister was still able to win the vote in the House of Commons, also benefiting from the abstention of the Labor Party, the main opposition formation, which refused for the first time since. the start of the pandemic to support the government's strategy.
"
Not a confinement
"
While admitting that restrictions were still needed, Labor chief Keir Starmer said the executive's financial support was insufficient for the most affected areas and expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the new measures in the absence of an efficient tracking system.
Read also: Covid-19: Boris Johnson faces a rebellion in his own camp
Under the three-tiered local warning system, decided by the prevalence of the virus, nearly 99% of England's 56 million people will continue to live under strict restrictions, such as the closure of pubs and restaurants in the most affected regions, or the ban for different households to socialize in the interior over the vast majority of the territory.
"
This is not a new containment
"
,
emphasized Boris Johnson
,
stressing that it will be possible to leave home "
for any reason
" and that all non-essential businesses would reopen.
Without succeeding in convincing the disgruntled deputies, the executive had published Monday an impact study of the new restrictions, the same day of the announcement of the bankruptcy of the ready-to-wear group Arcadia, which employs 13,000 people.
The study recognizes that the measures will generate “
significant costs
” for the economy, but points out that the consequences of an out-of-control virus would be “
much worse
” for public health.
The novel coronavirus epidemic has killed nearly 58,500 people in the United Kingdom, the most bereaved country in Europe which has more than 1.6 million positive cases.
The UK government and the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who each decide their strategy in the face of the health crisis, have agreed to allow reunions with family and friends around Christmas.
A maximum of three foci can meet from December 23 to 27.
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