LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged lawmakers to support his new system of regional coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday, arguing in the face of criticism from his party that the system was needed to keep the virus under control.
“With the spread of the epidemic varying across the country, there remains a compelling … case for regional tiers in England,” Johnson told parliament, batting away criticism from several unhappy lawmakers.
Over 40% of people in England will be subject to the toughest tier of restrictions on their daily life from Wednesday as the government shifts to a region-by-region approach after a month of national lockdown.
The plan has ignited a rebellion in Johnson’s Conservative Party, with as many as 80 of the 364 elected Conservatives already criticising the system as draconian, badly implemented or based on insufficient evidence.
The measures will be approved by a vote in parliament later on Tuesday despite the anticipated rebellion because the main opposition Labour Party has chosen to abstain rather than vote against the government.
Johnson responded to members of his party who raised complaints about the allocation of their regions into tiers by acknowledging the difficulty they would cause and promising decisions would be reviewed every two weeks.
“I appreciate people’s feelings of injustice … people feel that they’ve been unfairly attracted by proximity into a higher tier than they deserve,” he said.
“The government will look at how we can reflect as closely as possible the reality of what is happening on the ground.”
He also announced a one-off payment of 1,000 pounds to pubs who would be unable to reopen under the new rules, seeking to address one of the most acutely affected industries.
(Reporting by Michael Holden, writing by William James, Editing by Paul Sandle and Elizabeth Piper)
