A Lincolnshire MP has called for more people to be reliant on themselves over fears that “every successive lockdown is less and less effective”.
Sir Edward Leigh, Gainsborough MP, told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the government could not “just rely” on lockdowns.
Mr Leigh said: “Many of us who will vote for the government tonight […] are worried that with every successive lockdown they are less and less effective because whilst every death is tragic, young people will have noticed reports that out of a population of 10s of millions, only 400 have actually died who are healthy between 16 and 60.
“Will the Prime Minister tell people like me in the priority groups that there has to be an element of self-reliance, self-isolation and actually looking after our own health?”
He also urged the PM to get rid of “bureaucratic hurdles” after reporting the Gainsborough testing centre had been turning down people who were not showing symptoms away.
“Surely we want to encourage all carers or all elderly people to go in and be tested,” he added.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “absolutely right” that people be encouraged to get tested and pointed to initiatives which encouraged community testing.
“I totally support that, but I also think that the British public and this house overwhelmingly supports measures to protect the NHS and save lives.
“He makes a valid point about the way that coronavirus impact on the population — it does fall disproportionately on the elderly in the vulnerable — but those lives must be saved where we possibly can, and I think that is what people of all generations in this country want to do.”
Sir John Hayes MP for South Holland and the Deepings also spoke during the debate on Wednesday.
Spalding MP John Hayes also asked for reassurance that GPs will be equipped to vaccinate the vulnerable in order to tackle the isolation that lockdown would cause.
Mr Johnson said doctor surgeries would “clearly play a crucial part” in the vaccination programme.
In a speech to the House prior to a full debate on the latest lockdown, Mr Johnson told members of parliament that the new variant of COVID-19 was spreading “with frightening ease and speed”.
He said: “Our emergence from the lockdown cocoon will not be a big bang, but a gradual unwrapping.”
Lockdown legislation will go on until March 31, but not “be cause we expect to the full national national lockdown to continue until then, but to allow a steady controlled and evidence-led move down through the tiers on a regional basis carefully, a brick by brick,” he said.
The UK officially went into full lockdown on Wednesday, and MPs are due to debate and vote on the new rules retrospectively later today.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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