Mansfield politician says government’s ‘dithering inaction’ has left region languishing in Tier 3

The leader of Mansfield’s Labour group says that while he agrees the region should be in Tier 3 he fears the area’s businesses are facing months of ‘devastating hardship’.
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The government announced on Thursday that Mansfield would leave the second lockdown in Tier 3.

Infection rates in the town are falling however, along with most of the East Midlands, they are still amongst the highest in the country.

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Leader of Mansfield’s Labour group, Andrew Abrahams, believes the government failed to act quickly enough to avoid the toughest restrictions.

Andy Abrahams is leader of Mansfield's Labour GroupAndy Abrahams is leader of Mansfield's Labour Group
Andy Abrahams is leader of Mansfield's Labour Group

He said: “The Government’s own Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) advised in September that, unless they put a circuit breaker in place, deaths would reach over 500 per day within weeks.

"It was common sense that the rapid rise in infection rates had coincided two weeks after children had returned to school, so the logical course of action would have been to introduce a circuit breaker one week either side of half term to prevent this exponential explosion in the spread of the virus.

“The government claimed they were protecting business by not acting on the advice of their own experts, but it is plain to see that with 27 million people in Tier 3 and 95 per cent of the country now left in high or very high alerts, their dithering inaction in early October will cause devastating hardship to businesses for months longer and hundreds, if not thousands, more additional unnecessary deaths.”

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Mr Abrahams has also expressed frustration that the government’s testing and tracing systems are still not functioning correctly, leading to a general feeling of mistrust.

Mansfield have been placed into Tier 3Mansfield have been placed into Tier 3
Mansfield have been placed into Tier 3

He added: “The public and businesses are, quite rightly, challenging the government for the evidence of why we should follow their advice.

"They seem to have no credible plan on how we can exit out of this misery.”

“It is shameful that we are languishing with the highest number of deaths in Europe and our economy has suffered and performed the worst.

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“Unfortunately we are where we are, and realistically it is unlikely we will be a situation where restrictions can be lifted for some months to come.

“I am pleading with you to follow the rules to protect yourselves and your loved ones.”

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