6 minute read
MPs
MPs’ round-up
No evidence to support face mask in schools
Like so many parents, in March 2020 I found myself taking up the role of once more being a teacher as lockdown hit, schools closed and children headed home. We all struggled to support our children with their studies, while teachers somehow managed to manage their cohorts over the internet. There’s no question that our children have experienced an immeasurable amount of change in this pandemic and have now had two years of disrupted learning. Those now due to sit their GCSE exams this summer had their last normal school year when they were in year eight – when they were just 12 or 13. Children now starting secondary school last had a normal school year when they were just seven or eight years old. Now, returning to school following the Christmas break, our children were yet again required to wear face coverings at school – but this time in the classroom. This was not part of the Plan B restrictions voted on in the House of Commons. And, more importantly, the policy is not supported by evidence. As a country we have always sought to be practitioners of evidence-based medicine. Indeed, the Government has always said decisions related to the pandemic were guided by the science. So, one would hope that a huge policy change, such as compelling children to wear masks in the classroom, would have compelling evidence. But no. The Government’s own evidence summary clearly shows the damage inflicted by wearing face masks in class. Eighty per cent of pupils have reported that wearing a mask makes it difficult to communicate, and over half feel that wearing one made learning more difficult for them. Almost all secondary teachers and senior leaders believe that face coverings make communication between teachers and students more difficult. For all these negatives, one would hope there would be some positives to balance the situation, but it seems that wearing masks in school makes no difference to absences due to covid. The Department for Education looked at the impact of masks in 123 schools where covid absences fell to 3 per cent from 5.3 per cent. In schools without masks, 1,192 schools, there was a 1.7 per cent drop. This difference is minimal. This analysis informed a major government decision impacting our children. I’ve spoken to teachers who tell me that many young children are afraid of removing their masks, having grown accustomed to hiding their faces from the world and from one another. Now I’m sure we can all agree that it’s much better for children to be in the classroom than at the school of mum and dad, but it seems to be clear that the wearing of masks is not only a rather ugly infringement of their freedom, but is also an unfair restriction on their learning, with zero evidence to support it.
Somerton & Frome MP David Warburton
With revelations concerning Downing Street parties over the last two years at its height, I’d like you to know that I feel embarrassed by these revelations. The Government knows how I and many of you feel about this, having been to see the Prime Minister personally, just before Christmas to tell him directly. There are two things that stand out. Firstly, that whilst we were at home respecting the rules, it is becoming clearer and clearer that this was not the case in Number 10. What irks so much
MPs’ round-up
Easing restrictions was the right thing to do
In my view Bristol City Council should have removed the Colston statue as fast as its 19th century predecessors put the loathsome thing up. But the acquittal on charges of criminal damage of four individuals who took it upon themselves to haul it down was a real jaw-dropper. The decision permissions the desecration by vigilantes and self-appointed guardians of public morality of any bit of the public realm that they don’t like. So, it’s open season on statues of Winston Churchill and the hundreds of Queen Victoria who presided over an empire on which it is said the sun never set. There’s Cecil Rhodes, obviously, Clive of India and a raft of lesser known figures who will now presumably be outed by the mob and their images defiled or expunged. Fortunately Nelson, on his column, is safe, for now. In this dystopia it seems that political debate and decisions shaped by them must be carried out through the agency of mob violence and the courts. Enough! I will certainly be supporting measures anticipated in the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill to ensure that vandals are convicted. It will then remain for the judge, within sentencing guidelines, to reflect any relevant mitigating circumstances in the penalty awarded. I hope too that in the Colston case the Lord Chief Justice will settle his Bristol Crown Court colleague into a leather armchair for a gentle word over a nice single malt - or alternatively what in the military we would call a no coffee interview. Before Christmas I generally supported the government’s modest Covid Plan B measures and it holding its nerve which contrasted with the altogether more restrictive measures imposed by other jurisdictions in the UK and abroad. Looking at the data now, it seems ministers have been largely vindicated. I suspect there will still be several days of steeply increasing case numbers, especially outside London, but that they will fall away quickly. Sensible hygiene measures should still apply and it’s vital we reach people who have not been jabbed but the impression given by early data that Omicron is milder than Delta appears to have been accurate. So the government is right to have eased some restrictions, notably on testing and travel. If the data goes the way we all hope it will, a number of others will fall away automatically at the end of the month.
MP for South West Wiltshire Dr Andrew Murrison
MP for West Dorset Chris Loder
about this is that I know the pain and trauma so many of us went through because they could not be with their family members during this horrible time. I recall when Yeovil Crematorium wouldn’t even let mourners inside the gate for funerals. I myself had to stay in London for Christmas 2020 because of these restrictions and know only too well that sadness of being away from home. Secondly, the law doesn’t stop at the garden wall of Number 10 and if some of these advisors didn’t think these rules were needed, we should not have had them imposed, but the reality is that, in the main, they were required and should have been adhered to. I know you put your trust in me as your MP and, by default, the Prime Minister as well. I know that, regardless of political view, the most important thing is to be able to trust those who hold the highest elected office in the land and I want to re-assure you that I shall continue to ensure that decency and honour are integral at the heart of our Government. To fix an endemic culture, we need actions, not words. We cannot have assurances given to the House of Commons when they transpire not to be accurate. But, without the full facts to hand, as many of you know, it is not my style to jump to conclusions without them. The ‘Gray Report’ will allow me and others to factually base important decisions. But we forget all the good that this Government has done at our peril. We are in a strong place compared to other nations. Our economy is recovering fast. We have the least restrictions of euro nations. We are at the top of the vaccination programme league tables too. But my mission now is to ensure that the trust and honour of the Number 10 machine is restored which is crucial to the moral authority of governing, especially during these times.
