The imposition of Tier 4 restrictions on Warwickshire is more bad news at the end of a year which has been full of it. As most of my constituents will know, I could not support the imposition of Tier 3 restrictions on our County several weeks ago because the virus rates locally did not, in my view, make that decision necessary. I cannot make a similar argument this time. The figures for Rugby Borough, Warwick District and Stratford District are all significantly higher than they were then, the new strain of COVID 19 is spreading faster than was the case then, and we can see from what is happening elsewhere in the country that it is more important than ever to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed, as it moves into the period of the year when it is always under the most pressure. The period we spend subject to these restrictions will of course continue to be very difficult for many and I am very conscious of that, but the protection of the most vulnerable and of the NHS must be the priority now, until more people have been able to have the vaccines, on which of course there has been good news with regulatory approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
