76 MPs rebelled against the renewal of the Coronavirus Act for a further six months in the House of Commons this afternoon, the largest rebellion so far against one of the Government’s Covid measures. The final toll was 484 votes to 76, giving the Government a majority of 408. The victory came in spite of the fact that Matt Hancock refused to rule out renewing the regulations again in the Autumn. MailOnline has more.
Mr Hancock told the restive chamber he “cannot answer” whether the Coronavirus Act will be retired in six months or rolled on, as he opened the debate this afternoon.
“There are parts of this Act that have allowed us to do good things that everybody would like to see like that, and so when we do come to retire this Act, which we must within one year and preferably within six months, we will need to make sure that we can continue to do that sort of thing and make sure that nurses can be enrolled as easily as possible into the NHS,” he said.
“But I cannot answer whether we will be retiring it in six months. My preference would be yes, but given the last year, I think a prediction would be hasty.”
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Watch Mark Harper MP, Chair of the Covid Recovery Group, speak against the Act here.
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