Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Robert Seely, spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday, where he said, “anyone who thinks we are all coming out of lockdown on 2nd December is living in a parallel universe”.
Referring to the Government’s forecast of 4,000 deaths per day from Covid-19 as a “sombrero of doom”, Seely went on to add that he was “concerned that people are losing faith in their use of data and science”.
“Sceptical” scientists
Seely pointed to the scientists that he said “are becoming increasingly sceptical about the use of lockdowns”, the likes of Professor Mark Woolhouse from Edinburgh and Professor Carl Heneghan from Oxford.
He quoted Professor Sunetra Gupta, who said,
“Lockdown is a blunt…policy that forces the poorest and most vulnerable people to bear the brunt of…coronavirus.”
Seely: “We are obsessive about the risks of Covid”
The Isle of Wight MP questioned whether whether the “Government are losing the plot”, saying,
“The Government need to look into some of the advice they are getting, because I think it is highly dangerous. Members of SAGE yesterday were arguing for a total shutdown, including schools, and I really wonder whether the Government are losing the plot over this.
“We are obsessive about the risks of covid.”
Seely: “Government now believe they can effectively halt death”
Having lost both his parents to winter flu in the last decade, Seely went on to add,
“Three years ago, 22,000 people died of winter flu. According to the logic of some hon. Members of this House, we would effectively have to shut down our lives for six months of the year in case people die.
“A bizarrely dangerous precedent is being set, whereby the Government now believe they can effectively halt death.”
Seely: I thought the NHS was there to protect us, not the other way around
He finished by saying,
“Once upon a time, we would go to someone’s funeral when they hit 85 or over—my dad made it to his mid-80s—and talk about a life well led. Now, if someone dies of covid several years above the national average lifespan, politicians are saying it is the greatest disaster facing humanity and must never happen again.
“I understand the virulent nature of covid, and I understand the impact on the NHS, although I thought the NHS was there to protect us, not the other way around. We need some semblance of balance; if the Government were using statistics honestly, openly and transparently and, on balance, came down on the side of lockdown, that would be fine. However, lockdown is a dubious tool and the way we are presenting the data is a hazardous way to approach the subject.”
Read the full text
Rather than reproduce all of Bob’s words, we’ve picked out some segments.
