The febrile atmosphere in Parliament is a product of confusion and scandal as well as issues that are of great importance to the country. Fundamentally, it is about the relationship between the individual and the state.
Conservatives expect to pay their taxes, receive essential services, and then have the government leave them alone. The prime minister is leading the charge to undermine this with his ambitions to take control of our medical autonomy and certify us according to how well we comply with his demands.
The socialists claim that they are enthusiastically supporting Boris Johnson because they care about the health of the nation, but they are also aware that this power grab could never be achieved by them. Both the government and the opposition neglect and undermine the phenomenal progress our scientists and medics have made over the past 20 months as we struggle through the pandemic, lockdowns, and restrictions.
We have a range of vaccines that protect us from serious harm potentially caused by any Covid-19 variant of concern; there is a new range of anti-viral drugs to protect people who get this coronavirus; and the broader medical understanding and ability to treat patients has advanced immeasurably.
Rather than recognising our collective success and delivering on the government’s promise, we are heading into having more authoritarian measures imposed.
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The government used to say that the vaccination programme is the way out of the pandemic but, as 23 million have had their third jab and the fourth and fifth doses are on order, the government rhetoric takes us in the direction of domestic vaccine ID cards and compulsory vaccination on a national scale.
When will the prime minister give us a sense of what success looks like? Forcing out tens of thousands of carers who have been on the front line throughout the pandemic is not going to take the pressure off the care sector but will load so many more problems on an already struggling NHS.
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Next he is going to impose the same mandate on the NHS knowing that tens of thousands more will leave amid a crisis. Well, at least they have published the Statutory Instrument for that. The big vote and the big Conservative rebellion are going to be on the vaccine passes and, as I write, the government has not yet got around to publishing what we are voting on.
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MPs will only have a few hours to read and consult before entering the division lobby. Why is the prime minister doing this? Why has the health secretary refused to publish an impact assessment on the measures he is signing off?
During the first few weeks, we can just about accept a government not being able to communicate effectively on this monumental challenge, but it is surely unacceptable now. Boris Johnson wants to fundamentally change the relationship between the individual and the state and it is our duty to vote against it.
Chris Green is MP for Bolton West
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