EMMA LEWELL-BUCK: Government must not to fail us again after worst of years

This week the Prime Minister announced a ‘roadmap’ for the lifting of covid restrictions, by the June 21 all legal limits on social contact should be removed and all sectors of the economy opened.
Like everyone else I am looking forward to seeing our local shops, hairdressers, pubs, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, theatres and fairground re open.Like everyone else I am looking forward to seeing our local shops, hairdressers, pubs, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, theatres and fairground re open.
Like everyone else I am looking forward to seeing our local shops, hairdressers, pubs, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, theatres and fairground re open.

Of course the announcement was filled with the usual trademark contradictions of it being ‘cautious but irreversible’ (but he can’t guarantee that) and led by ‘data not dates’ (then he presented us with a series of dates) and of course we have been here so many times with false promises only to be bitterly let down. Over the last 12 months we were told it will all be over by Easter, Summer, Autumn, Christmas, the New Year and now June.

In his statement to the House of Commons the Prime Minister at long last admitted what I have been saying for a long time now that covid is here to stay and we will need to adapt how we live and behave for the long term. Even with the vaccine. It is thanks to the phenomenal achievements of the NHS in rolling out the vaccine programme that we have reached this point, but please remember one jab does not mean you are vaccinated, and as with all viruses covid will develop new variants. Test, trace and isolate remains a shambles and mass return instead of a short-phased return of schools on the 8th March is causing many concerns.

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So, I remain hopeful and cautiously optimistic. Like everyone else I am looking forward to seeing our local shops, hairdressers, pubs, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, theatres and fairground re open. I am looking forward our guest houses being full again, the Great North Run, our summer events and showing off our gorgeous home to tourists. After the worst year in living memory for so many of us, a horrific and largely avoidable death toll and an economy on its knees we are all looking to the Government to not fail us again.

For my part I will make sure I continue to hold them to their promises and get us safely to the 21 st June and beyond.