A senior Member of Parliament warned that the British public may "rise up" if Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government does not outline an exit strategy for the U.K.'s ongoing nationwide lockdown.
"We have to focus on hospital admissions and keep that focus rigorous … [or] at some stage people have got to rise up and bring it down," warned Desmond Swayne, the MP for New Forest West. Swayne noted that the "goalposts keep moving" on the lockdown timeframe.
The MP's comments echo those of West Midlands Police commissioner David Jamieson. Back in October, during the start of the second lockdown, Jamieson warned that "we're sitting on a time bomb here."
"We're getting very near the stage where you could see a considerable explosion of frustration and energy," Jamieson said. "Things are very on the edge in a lot of communities and it wouldn’t take very much to spark off unrest, riots, damage."
Continuing lockdowns without end are "intolerable"
In an interview with Talk Radio, Swayne warned that ordinary Britons would not tolerate an extended coronavirus lockdown.
"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," he said.
Swayne also took a shot at the reasoning being used by the government to justify the extended lockdown. He stated that reducing the burden on the National Health Service (NHS) and reducing hospital admissions makes the burden of lockdowns "intolerable." (Related: "If lockdown were a drug, it wouldn't be approved," says UK medical researcher – lockdowns do more harm than good.)
"As they reduce, the burden of lockdown becomes intolerable," he stated. "We are going to have to live with this as an endemic disease."
According to Swayne, the government has to remain focused on a "fixed goal post" to end the lockdown.
"The goal post has to be the NHS coping with a predictable and acceptable number of hospital admissions," he said, adding that the people would eventually have to "rise up and bring it down" should this not be met.
"I'm deeply skeptical of this belief out there that everyone is in favor of the lockdown and are quite happy for it to go on. This is madness."
As of the time of writing, the United Kingdom has had 3,680,101 reported cases of COVID-19 according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
UK Prime Minister says it's "too early" to take about ending the lockdown
Prime Minister Johnson has repeatedly stated that it was "too early" to say when restrictions would be lifted. At the same time, suggestions for easing the lockdown by other government figures have kept moving to later dates – summer or even beyond is now being touted as the possible timeframe.
In response to this, a coalition of 70 conservative MPs has come together urging the government to start lifting the lockdown no later than early March.
"People must see light at the end of the tunnel and feel hope for the future and businesses need to be able to plan our recovery," said MP Mark Harper, who leads the coalition dubbed the "Covid Recovery Group."
Environment Secretary Goerge Eustice, on the other hand, has warned that even more draconian restrictions may be introduced if people don't obey the current rules.
"Generally, with this whole pandemic, we’ve had to take some quite extraordinary steps, very draconian steps, that are a big infringement on people’s liberty," Eustice said.
"And yes, that does mean that we have to intervene in quite a draconian way and issue penalties, and we make no apology for doing that," he added, stating that further measures are currently "under review."
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