BOURNEMOUTH East MP Tobias Ellwood repeated his calls for greater scrutiny of the decisions behind placing areas under stricter coronavirus measures on the eve of Dorset’s entry into Tier 2 restrictions.

The former defence minister told the House of Commons that military personnel should be drafted in to staff Nightingale hospitals across the country, relieving some of the pressure on the NHS.

Mr Ellwood also called for the Government to move to a war footing, suggesting that Number 10 Downing Street is “overwhelmed”.

He went on to say that he believes the plans to ease restrictions across the country to allow three households to meet inside over Christmas needs to be reconsidered.

The speech from the Conservative backbencher was made during the House of Commons debate on the latest coronavirus legislation, which would formalise the new tier system that is set to come into force tomorrow.

The Government is expected to win the vote this evening although many of its own party are set to not support by either voting against or abstaining.

Mr Ellwood said: “Yes, we want that transition from lockdown to the tier system but it must come under proper scrutiny.

“It is so important that we have to be honest with the people but also let’s be honest about this place. Most people don’t see what goes on here. Votes take place all the time but the vote that takes place today will affect every citizen, every family, every business and it is so important that the oversight that Parliament provides is allowed to do its duty and that has not taken place this time.

“We are facing challenging events, there is no doubt about it. What Governments all across the world are looking at is this balance between lives and livelihoods. The Covid-19 pandemic, containing that, and also supporting the economy. Add in a third element to that and that’s the will of the people, the consent, the buy-in of the nation to want to follow the rules.”

The defence select committee chair said he was worried the Government might be losing this consent if is does not work more closely with Parliament and the country.

“Communities want to understand why they are in a particular tier, they want to understand what they need to do on December 16 to actually move to a new tier and that was not forthcoming, certainly not in the documentation that was provided very late in the day, yesterday,” said Mr Ellwood.

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“In Dorset we went into lockdown with very low numbers, we came out of it with even lower numbers. The last two weeks of data, the numbers fell by one third and yet we end up in Tier 2.

“Dorset hospitals, yes our numbers of Covid have gone up a little bit but we have empty Nightingales across the country.

“And this argument to say they can’t be staffed. I have checked with the MoD (Ministry of Defence). There are 2,000 medical personnel ready to be MACA-ered (Military Aid to Civil Authorities) if we request them to do so. Let’s not use that as a factor to hold us again, to push places like Dorset into Tier 2 unnecessarily.”

He added: “I say this very carefully but it is something I have been stressed from the very beginning, we have a peacetime Government construct – a cabinet system which works well, it is tried and tested.

“But we should have moved to a war footing. Number 10 (Downing Street) is overwhelmed. The bandwidth cannot cope with everything that is going on.

“You have got Covid-19, you have got the economic intervention, you have got Brexit, the Integrated Review, preparing for COP26 (the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place next year) and then you have got the G7 Presidency as well.

“It is the same people who are not I am afraid, these are friends of mine, but they are not trained for crisis management and strategic planning or indeed in emergency response. All the more reason why this place needs to its job.

“And let me be the first to say, and I say this very cautiously, I do believe we need to reconsider this five-day opening up over Christmas if you want to take advantage of the gains, the hard-fought gains, that we have developed over this year.”