Councillor Sean Woodcock, Leader of the Labour Group on Cherwell District Council
Councillor Sean Woodcock, Leader of the Labour Group on Cherwell District Council

You’ll be reading this as we enter a new period of lockdown. Please stay safe and look after each other. All of your elected representatives are here to help if you need it.

At the beginning of October, Labour was calling for a circuit breaker.

It was clearly a decisive moment in our efforts to tackle coronavirus  as the numbers were moving in the wrong direction.

But the UK Government had lost control of the virus and lost control of the message. It also was no longer following scientific advice.

We were ignored. And now we find ourselves at the start of another lockdown that we are told will last until early December.

Without wishing to be negative; the one announced in March we were told originally would be for 3 weeks.

Labour is a constructive opposition and continues to support the Government in its efforts to defeat the virus. We urge the public to follow the guidance and use the Covid-19 app.

However the risks to public health and the economy increased as a result of the UK Government’s poor handling of the crisis, mixed messages and failure to get test, trace and isolate working properly.

The public have lost confidence in the Government’s ability to keep them safe.

By failing to act, the Government stumbled into the same devastating situation we faced earlier in the year.

The government wasted time making political points when it should have followed the science.

Now that we are back in lockdown they must not waste another second.

They must set out a roadmap for how we get out of this cycle. And provide a cast-iron guarantee that local leaders will be properly consulted ahead of any future restrictions.

They must set out the current risk to clinically extremely vulnerable people, and the communication and support that will be provided for this group.

Jobs and businesses must continue to be supported.

Sort out Test and Trace and outline a plan to ensure the fair and safe manufacture and distribution of any approved vaccine.

We support the lockdown as vitally important to save lives and protect our NHS. But the government need to stop getting the other big decisions wrong and take this as an opportunity to reset our approach to tackling this virus.

Time for them to get on with it.

Bicester Advertiser column from Councillor Sean Woodcock, Leader of the Labour Group on Cherwell District Council

Link to Instagram Link to Twitter Link to YouTube Link to Facebook Link to LinkedIn Link to Snapchat Close Fax Website Location Phone Email Calendar Building Search