Tiers vote: MPs pass draconian Tier rules by 291-78 but Boris sees strong backbench rebellion

MPs last night backed returning Britain to lockdown tiers — but Boris Johnson was hit by a massive rebellion as 55 of his Tories voted against the new restrictions and 17 abstained.

It was a major blow for the PM, but the controversial tier system, that will cripple the hospitality industry, passed by 291 votes to 78 — a majority of 213.

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Around 10 former ministers and several high profile Tories including Iain Duncan Smith, David Davis, Esther McVey and Jeremy Wright voted against.

Labour abstained on the move, prompting Mr Johnson to brand Sir Keir Starmer “absolutely invertebrate”.

But tonight's win came at a cost to the PM of dozens of fuming backbenchers.

Tory MPs queued up to slam the restrictions in a testy six hour Commons session earlier today.

Tonight's vote means that 99 per cent of the country will tomorrow be living under tougher rules despite just a third of MPs backing them.

A government spokesman claimed victory tonight, saying: "We welcome tonight’s vote which endorses our Winter Plan, brings an end to the national restrictions and returns England to a tiered system.

"This will help to safeguard the gains made during the past month and keep the virus under control.

"We continue to work with MPs who have expressed concerns in recent days."

STICK TOGETHER

The huge rebellion came despite a direct plea from the PM to his own MPs to “stick together”.

He told them on a private Zoom call with just minutes to go before the crunch vote: “It is like we are at the end of a six hour journey and the kids are going crazy on the back seat asking ‘are we nearly there yet?’”

The PM said he knew “everyone’s patience is really now at an end but we are nearly there and if we all want to get there together, we are going to have to keep going.”

He insisted: “I don’t want to be doing any of this, I'm a conservative, I didn't come into politics to intervene in businesses.”

Tory rebel ringleader and Chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, Mark Harper, said they very much regretted their votes against the Government.

He added: "We hope that the Government will take on board the comments we have been making on the need for better data and modelling, regional cost-benefit analysis and on trusting MPs with the information they need to make such important decisions on behalf of their constituents.

“We must find a way to break the transmission of the disease, recapture the public’s support and confidence, end this devastating cycle of repeated restrictions and start living in a sustainable way until an effective and safe vaccine is successfully rolled out across the population.”

MP Ben Everitt said tonight it had been "another tough day at the office", implying he had backed the Government with a heavy heart.

He added: "I wish there were better options."

And Tory Simon Fell added: "I agonised over it, but I finally decided to back the motion tonight to support further coronavirus measures.

"2020 has been an awful year but we need to bear down on this virus for a little longer to get through it."

Now independent MP Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, was one of those to vote them down too.

He said: "I don't believe the measures are what is needed to drive down the levels of the virus."

15 Labour MPs including Corbyn allies Andrew Gwynne and Richard Burgon ignored party orders to abstain.

CALMING THE SEAS

Earlier the PM set out major concessions to MPs to try and persuade them to back the Government

In a bid to woo them he promised:

• He promised that he would be looking at a more local tiers system in future when the measures get reviewed in just two weeks' time
• 30,000 drinks-only pubs will get an extra £1,000 grant to try and help them make ends meet - as revealed by The Sun this morning
• And he vowed that the Tiers system would only continue past February 2nd if MPs vote for them - meaning they would be in place for two months as a minimum

He told MPs in the Commons today: "We do want to be as granular as possible to reflect the reality of the epidemic.

"As we go forward and I mean this very seriously, the Government will look at how we can reflect as closely as possible what is happening on the ground for local people, at the human geography and spread of the pandemic."

He insisted: "All we need to do is hold our nerve... until these vaccines are rolled out and indeed into our arms."

He argued that the Tiers system would not be another lockdown and from tomorrow the public can go out again to gyms, shops and swimming pools.

The PM said: "This is not another lockdown. Nor is this the renewal of existing measures in England."

NOT EVEN A STICKING PLASTER

But angry publicans, brewers and MPs slammed Mr Johnson for offering just a £1,000 grant for “wet pubs” — those not serving food — in Tiers 2 and 3.

They said the offer equates to just £32 per day — the equivalent of them selling eight pints of beer at £4 each — during what would normally be their busiest time of year.

The British Beer and Pub Association warned that 30,000 pubs, 80 per cent of those in England are at risk of being permanently shuttered.

The gift fell flat with pubs groups slamming the Christmas bonus which is the same amount a bar makes selling eight pints of £4 beer a day, during what would be their busiest time of the year.

Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the BPPA said it was a “meagre” offer that it was “not even a sticking plaster.”

Greg Mulholland, Campaign Director of the Campaign for Pubs called the pot “frankly derisory” adding “It does nothing to compensate pubs facing the disastrous loss of all December, Christmas and New Year's Eve trade.

The Federation of Small Business said the handout would only cover the cost of one 200 pint keg of beer.

Phil Whitehead, from Molson Coors Beverage Company said he was “staggered and disappointed.”

Simon Emeny, the chief executive of brewers Fuller, Smith and Turner, said it would not be enough to save many of those affected.

He said: “A thousand pounds really doesn't really go any way to solving the financial Armageddon that many individual and independent operators are going to face.”

MPs also rounded on the PM’s offer, with Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke calling it “risible” adding it is “It's not good enough.

Labour said the new tiers will particularly impact hospitality in the North and Midlands as that's where almost 90 per cent of pubs and bars in Tier 3 are based.

They reveal the average pub received a grant worth £6,666 a month during the lockdown in March but even after yesterday's announcement pubs forced to close will receive just £3,000 a month - £3,666 less than they did during the first lockdown.

Lucy Powell MP, Labour's Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, said: “it's small beer that won’t even reach the sides of the income gap they’re facing.

And Health Sec Matt Hancock choked back tears tonight as he revealed his step grandfather died from Covid.

In highly emotional scenes in Parliament, the Health Secretary said his own family has been hit by the tragedy of the pandemic.

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He paid tribute to his step grandfather Derek, describing him as a "loving husband, father and grandfather".

Becoming tearful as he closed the Covid debate in the House of Commons, Mr Hancock thanked Brits for knuckling down to defeat the virus.

The 42 year-old said: “We talk a lot of the outbreak in Liverpool, and how that great city has had a terrible outbreak and got it under control.

“This means more to me than I can say, because last month my step grandfather Derek caught Covid there and on 18 November he died.

“In my family, as in so many others, we’ve lost a loving husband, a father, a grandfather to this awful disease.

“So from the bottom of my heart I want to say thank you to everyone in Liverpool for getting this awful virus under control.

“It’s down by four-fifths in Liverpool, that’s what we can do if we work together in a spirit of common humanity.

“We’ve got to beat this, we’ve got to beat it together.”

This is not another lockdown. Nor is this the renewal of existing measures in England

Boris Johnson

MPs have been holding frantic discussions with the Health Secretary, who are furious about being put into higher tiers than they feel they deserve.

This morning John Penrose shared a letter from the Health Secretary suggesting that the regions may be able to be carved up into smaller bits than before - in what would be a huge climbdown to the rebels.

It led to MPs for areas in Kent, which has been shoved from Tier 1 to Tier 3, cry that the rules were unfair on their areas with lower cases.

The same happened in North Somerset, where rates are mostly low but it has been brought into line as a result of higher clusters of cases nearby.

Boris and the Government had previously defended the system, saying they have to apply blanket rules over big areas.

The PM has said that if restrictions weren't put on bigger authorities, it would let the virus run out of control.

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MPs stood up in the Commons this afternoon to express their worries over the new system.

Conservative former minister Andrea Leadsom suggested that the risk of non-compliance with lockdown restrictions is "very great".

She said: "I want to support my Government and my Prime Minister in the lobby this evening, but I can't and won't inflict deliberate harm on my constituency unless I can see for myself that to do nothing would be worse."

Senior Tory Sir Graham Brady added: "If Government is to take away fundamental liberties of the people whom we represent, they must demonstrate beyond question that they're acting in a way that is both proportionate and absolutely necessary.

"Today, I believe the Government has failed to make that compelling case."

Tory MP Damian Green said the public not backing the measures would mean that normal life won't be able to get back to normal as quickly as possibles.

He argued: "I've had the most angry emails over a weekend since the Dominic Cummings trip to Barnard Castle."

But Bernard Jenkin, another critic of the Government's strategy, said he would be backing them today as there was "no alternative".

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According to one MP, three people told the PM they would be voting against when he entered the tea room this lunchtime.

Robert Syms said: "he headed for tea room - first 3 Tories he talked to told him they were against!"

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