Burnley MP Antony Higginbotham column: I will fight for necessary support

Tier 2 is for those areas where transmission of Covid-19 is higher than the national average and applied to all those areas, including Burnley, where additional restrictions were already in place.

This made several important changes to the rules in place, including a requirement on hospitality venues like pubs and restaurants to prevent household mixing inside.

Most residents will know that our transmission rate is well above the national average and, unfortunately, continuing to travel in the wrong direction.

Of most concern is the increasing number of vulnerable people who are now getting the infection locally, and the rate at which our hospital beds are filling up.

Since the tier system was announced ministers have been working with the Director of Public Health for Lancashire and their team to identify what measures are needed to reverse this trend and protect our county, including what any tier 3 restrictions may look like.

If such a decision was taken, I want to reassure people across Burnley and Padiham that I will be doing everything I can to ensure we get the necessary support and that it is for only as long as is absolutely necessary.

And, as ever, me and my team stand ready to offer support or advice to anyone who needs it.

This week has also demonstrated how Parliament is a place of enormous variety though.

Following the tier system announcement, business progressed to looking at our landmark Agriculture Bill which will replace the EU’s flawed Common Agricultural Policy to something that works for us here and backs our farmers and the food they produce.

That means better funding for our farmers and landowners, paying based on improvements to the land – public money for public good – and not just based on acreage.

Over the past 10 months I’ve managed to speak with numerous farmers across the borough, allaying any fears that may have been lingering and dispelling many of the myths that have been peddled about this Bill often by those who have a political axe to grind.

These myths include that by signing free trade deals with countries around the world we would somehow allow unsafe products onto our supermarket shelves and put people’s health at risk. But this just isn’t the case.

We in this borough voted to take back control and have a properly sovereign Parliament where our food safety standards are dictated by no other country. That hasn’t changed and is something I committed to in the manifesto I stood on.

But the amendment that has generated so much of the headlines would have done untold damage. It would have resulted in developing countries, who can grow safe and healthy

crops like bananas and tea, but sometimes not in the same way we would do here, being unable to sell their produce to customers across the UK.

It would devastate those countries and hit people in the pocket here.

We also moved on to the vitally important Fisheries Bill, looking forward to the not too distant future where we regain full control over our territorial waters.

It sets the framework for us to take our place as an independent coastal state and sustainably manage our fishing stock so we can create thriving coastal communities across the UK.

So whilst I have been continuing with the manifesto promises of taking back control, in anticipation for the end of the transition period, I have also been involved in discussions with the Health Secretary, medical advisors and a huge number of residents who have contacted me about the latest coronavirus restrictions.

As we move forward in the coming days and months, please remember Hands, Face, Space.

And as difficult as the new rules may be, they will be temporary, and they will protect those we care for.