Sir Graham Brady urges PM to 'hold firm' with plans for July 19 unlocking
12 July 2021, 07:47
Tory grandee Sir Graham Brady has told LBC the nation needs to hear the Prime Minister is set to "hold firm" with plans for stage 4 of the Covid unlock plan.
He was speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari ahead of a major Downing Street press conference by Boris Johnson where it is likely the PM will announce the lifting of all remaining coronavirus restrictions.
Boris Johnson is expected to push ahead with the next stage of unlocking.
The 1922 Committee Chair Sir Graham told LBC he felt the move to unlock was "overdue" in his view.
He told Nick it was important now for the government to ensure the public are "well informed and able to make good decisions."
The backbench MP touched on face coverings, he told Nick, "if the advice, backed up by scientific evidence, is that people ought to be wearing facemasks, then fine."
But, he warned he had "not been hearing much of that scientific evidence, just the advice."
Nick Ferrari asked the MP what he would be doing after next week on public transport when it comes to facemasks.
"The advice and evidence that I've heard is that there is very little reason to wear facemasks, certainly outside a clinical setting."
Sir Graham said, "personally," he would be "inclined not to wear facemasks."
Excess deaths on PM's head as consequence of lifting restrictions
As of 9am on Sunday, there had been a further 31,772 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK, the Government said.
A further 26 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 128,425.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Moving to Step 4 was delayed by four weeks to ensure all adults had been offered a vaccine.
Government data up to July 10 shows that of the 80,646,232 Covid jabs given in the UK so far, 45,881,721 were first doses, a rise of 93,763 on the previous day.
Some 34,764,511 were second doses, an increase of 211,446.
Analysis from Public Health England (PHE) and the University of Cambridge suggests that vaccines have so far prevented an estimated 8.5 million infections and 30,000 deaths in England alone.
The next stage of lifting measures is seen as a further step towards normality and moving out of the pandemic.
