Conservative MP Sir Desmond Swayne says Britons will not tolerate another ‘absurd’ lockdown

A Conservative MP has said Britons will not tolerate another ‘absurd’ coronavirus lockdown.

MP for New Forest West Sir Desmond Swayne said that the Government’s focus should be on lowering hospital admissions so lockdown can be lifted.

He described the current lockdown as ‘madness’ and suggested people are ‘going to have to rise up and bring it down’. 

It comes as Britain’s daily coronavirus case total plunged by 18 per cent in a week today.

Sir Desmond told Talk Radio’s Julia Hartley-Brewer: ‘As hospital admissions decline, with the progress of vaccination, the notion that ordinary people are going to be prepared to tolerate going on living like troglodytes, in this ridiculous way, is absurd.

‘We were told – it’s always been the case – that we were protecting the NHS and reducing hospital admissions. 

‘As they reduce, the burden of lockdown becomes intolerable. We are going to have to live with this as an endemic disease.

‘There will have to be new strains put into the vaccine every year, and vulnerable groups will have to go and get their vaccine in the autumn – in the same way as you expect them to go and get their vaccine for flu at the moment.

‘That’s going to be the new normal.

‘But it has to remain focused on a fixed goal post. The goal post has to be the NHS coping with a predictable and acceptable number of hospital admissions.

‘At some point people are going to have to rise up and bring it down, as they say in the Unites States.

‘I’m deeply sceptical of this belief out there that everyone is in favour of the lockdown and are quite happy for it to go on. This is madness.’

A further 33,552 people tested positive for coronavirus today – a nearly 10,000 drop on the 41,346 recorded last Saturday. 

It brings the total number of cases in the UK since the start of the pandemic to 3,617,459.

Official figures also revealed 1,348 more people have died within 24 hours of testing positive for the virus – a rise of 4.1 per cent on last Saturday’s 1,295. 

But, in a positive sign Britain’s third wave of Covid fatalities could be slowing, last Saturday brought a 25 per cent week-on-week rise in daily cases, significantly higher than the increase seen today.  

Boris Johnson yesterday revealed that the Kent coronavirus strain – responsible for the soaring Covid cases recorded in the last month – could be 30 per cent more deadly than older versions of the virus.

However the PM has been accused of ‘scaremongering’ after failing to present any evidence to back up the terrifying development.

And the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) – the body of scientists which has advised the Government throughout the pandemic – are only 50 per cent sure the new variant could be more fatal. 

Professor Robert Dingwall, who sits on the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) – the subcommittee of Sage which discussed the deadliness of the new strain on Thursday – said the claim that the variant is 30 per cent more lethal is on a ‘very fragile’ base of evidence and accused the Government of ‘exploiting public fear’ over the virus. 

Chief Scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said during the press conference that evidence the strain is indeed more deadly is still ‘weak’. 

Public Health England medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle today revealed it is not ‘absolutely clear’ if a mutation of the virus first found in Kent is more dangerous.

Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said it is an ‘open question’ but not a ‘game changer’ in terms of dealing with the pandemic.

And Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of Sage subgroup the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, said it was still too early to be drawing ‘strong conclusions’ about the suggested increased mortality rate.