This week Parliament has been asked to approve measures for a new national lockdown. None of us want to have to impose these kinds of measures, but unfortunately the spread of the virus leaves us with no better options.

 

Already local hospitals in Greater Manchester, including Stepping Hill and Tameside, are at or close to ICU bed capacity and if left unchecked some hospitals may very well need to start restricting some routine operations and treatments to release ordinary bed capacity too. That would be utterly disastrous for people who need treatment – many who had their treatments postponed in the spring, too. We cannot allow our NHS to be overwhelmed.

 

There’s a two week delay from transmission to hospitalisation and so we know the likely impact the latest data will have on the health system in a fortnight, and it’s grim.

 

The present trajectories suggest the NHS across England (in Greater Manchester we are already close to this point) will be unable to accept any more patients by Christmas. The doubling rate means we can’t outrun this unless there’s a serious intervention to halt or slow transmission. We cannot double NHS capacity every ten to 14 days, and we also have to factor in that a lot of NHS staff will fall ill themselves.

 

In addition to this massive public health challenge, we also face an equally daunting economic challenge. I take this extremely seriously, and that’s why in recent weeks I’ve opposed measures that have hurt businesses – especially those who, at some expense, made themselves COVID-secure. I’ve also been pushing for an extension of the furlough scheme at 80%, which is why I fully supported Andy Burnham in his battle with Ministers.

 

On top of this, there’s a mental health challenge to lockdown – which I certainly do not underestimate – and real concerns about civil liberties. We certainly have to guard against an overbearing State thinking some of these measures can become the ‘norm’ once the pandemic is defeated.

 

Finally, here in Tameside we have a real COVID-weariness – I fully understand this, because I’m feeling it too. We have been under different forms of local restrictions now for 14 weeks and they just haven’t worked.

 

All of these considerations make the decision to lockdown extremely difficult, but ultimately I believe it to be the right one – the problem of NHS capacity cannot be understated. We are already at capacity in Tameside and neighbouring areas are at or close to capacity too. I am therefore supporting the measures, but we need economic support to continue, we need the Government to fix Test and Trace, we need a clear exit strategy and – longer term – we need a national conversation on how NHS capacity was allowed to be run down so much over the last decade.

NOTE: This was written before the lockdown measures were approved on Wednesday

 

Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, joined an online event to pledge support for Cats Protection’s campaign for compulsory microchipping of pet cats.

 

Gwynne joined a virtual drop-in event on 20 October to discuss how the measure could significantly improve feline welfare in the UK.

 

Cats Protection, the UK’s largest cat charity, is calling for microchipping to become compulsory for pet cats, as it already is for dogs.

 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cats Protection hosted its microchipping discussion online to update politicians on its campaign.

 

Microchipping is a safe, permanent and cost-effective method of identification which ensures cats can be reunited with their owner should they go missing. It means lost cats are not mistaken as strays and taken in by rehoming charities.

 

Andrew Gwynne said:

“I’m delighted to support Cats Protection’s campaign for compulsory microchipping of pet cats.

 

“This would be in line with legislation for dogs and would make a real difference.

 

“Ensuring all pet cats are microchipped would be an important step in improving the welfare of one of the nation’s best-loved pets.”

Jacqui Cuff, Head of Advocacy & Government Relations at Cats Protection, said:

“Microchipping is an essential part of responsible pet ownership, and ensuring it is compulsory for cats would give them the same protection as dogs.

 

“We were delighted to welcome so many politicians online to discuss this important animal welfare issue, and look forward to working together in the future.”

Cat lovers can back Cats Protection’s campaign for compulsory microchipping of owned cats by signing its petition at www.cats.org.uk/microchippingpetition

 

 

You may have seen some of the Prime Minister’s speech at the recent virtual Conservative Party conference. Behind him on the backdrop were the words “Build Back Better”, which may have reminded you of our own city region mayor Andy Burnham’s slogan “Build Back Better” from the start of the crisis or US presidential candidate Joe Biden’s election slogan “Build Back Better”.

 

Regardless of the fact that the PM has pinched the slogan, I’m glad that he and so many others have come to the conclusion that “building back better” is what we need to do. This crisis will have done a lot of damage and we will need to rebuild. But we need to do more than just put things back to the way things were – we need to come up with something even better.

 

And right at the very heart of how we do this must be community. We need to make sure that any rebuilding is done with communities in mind. That means consulting people and getting involved, helping one another as so many have during this crisis.

 

It also means tackling inequalities. Unfortunately, we’ve seen the gap between rich and poor open in many ways during this crisis, and it was already wide enough. We need to rebuild in a way that gives people more of a fair chance. There’s a lot of talk of the north-south divide, but something similar exists even within Stockport borough – and indeed within the relatively small area served by this fantastic paper.

 

So yes – let’s build back better. But it needs to be more than a slogan – it needs to mean real positive change, involve communities and result in a fairer society.