The anger felt by the public this week has been understandable and justified.
Like many others my family lost loved ones during the pandemic. I was also unable to see elderly relatives who were shielding on their own.
I was therefore just as angry to see no.10 staffers joking about a Christmas Party whilst the rest of us were facing restrictions.
The Prime Minister shares this anger and has rightly launched a formal, cabinet office investigation into any alleged parties & rule breaking at number 10, and should it be revealed that rules were broken, then those responsible should face action against them. In what has been an incredibly difficult two years; the public quite rightly expects politicians and those who make the rules to lead by example.
We also saw this week the announcement that we were moving towards plan B to further prevent the spread of the new Omicron variant. The Health Secretary explained that Omicron was doubling every 2.5 or three days, which could mean a million infections by the end of the month.
Masks in public spaces, working from home where possible and covid passes for large crowds were announced.
I have received communication from residents on both sides – those who think we should be going further with restrictions, and those who believe we shouldn’t be having any further restrictions.
We must ensure that we get the balance right. Whilst Omicron is spreading at an alarming rate; we want to make sure that this doesn’t lead to increasing hospitalisations and deaths. Yet whilst they still remain at a much lower rate compared to infections; we are doing all we can to avoid any restrictions on shops, restaurants, bars and businesses unless absolutely necessary. We want to reduce the spread where we can without imposing restrictions which would be harmful for businesses who are still recovering.
And to those who are opposed to further restrictions, then please look at what is happening in other European countries. Many countries including Germany & France require Covid passes for restaurants and cafes, and other countries are seeing further lockdowns. We have avoided such restrictions currently due to our fantastic vaccination & booster programme which continues to go at speed thanks to our brilliant NHS, and because we timed coming out of the last lockdown correctly. However, with the spread of a new variant, we must take the precautions necessary to avoid further restrictions whilst we continue to get everybody boosted. We do not under any circumstances want another lockdown – so these restrictions are trying to prevent as well as reducing the spread.
Locally, last week we saw the decision made by Historic England to list the Oasis dome. Whilst this inevitably will make it more challenging and expensive to carry out the much-needed refurbishment / rebuild works; everyone must now work together to find a solution. Nothing has changed, the Oasis remains a crucial leisure facility for Swindon – we have to get this resolved.
And finally, wowzers! What a fantastic FA Cup 3rd round draw for Swindon Town! Premier League champions Manchester City at the County Ground, a wonderful opportunity to showcase the significant progress at Swindon under Clem Morfuni and Rob Angus. This is what makes the FA Cup so special – the whole town will be hoping for a cup upset!
