Katy Balls

The next Tory debate is on post-vaccine restrictions

• 11 January 2021, 12:09pm

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  Katy Balls

  The next Tory debate is on post-vaccine restrictions

  

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But the third reason – and the one that will have the biggest impact on UK politics – is a sense that the most important debate isn’t on lockdown anymore (which is viewed as temporary) but vaccines: how many need to be vaccinated before restrictions can not only be eased but ended altogether. 

Covid Recovery Group chair Mark Harper has in this vein issued a call for the government to start relaxing restrictions next month – and there has been a push for a roadmap. What Tory MPs want is not only a vaccination priority list and plan, but to know what restrictions will be lifted once a certain group has been vaccinated. However, this is a conversation that No. 10 does not want to have right now. Government officials say in any decision to ease the lockdown, vaccinations are only one factor – hospital admissions and NHS capacity will be just as important. 

In Johnson’s Zoom meeting with his party last week, rather than question the immediate lockdown, Covid Recovery Group members asked what the government was learning from Israel’s speedy vaccination programme and how soon before two vaccinated people could meet. These are arguments that are going to be aired more as the weeks go on – once the most vulnerable have been vaccinated, backbenchers will push for most – if not all – restrictions to go.

They are, however, braced for resistance. Those close to the Prime Minister insist that he wants to get rid of as many restrictions as possible as soon as he can. But they warn that there will be arguments from SAGE scientists and others to keep some restrictions in place for a while over issues such as ‘long Covid’. With the government to start publishing vaccine data daily from today, expect Tory MPs to use this to make targeted interventions.