SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax has spoken of his anger following the ‘incomprehensible and unacceptable’ decision by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to delay ‘Freedom Day’ by a month.

All Covid restrictions had been due to be lifted on June 21 as part of the Government’s final step out of lockdown.

But despite the huge success of the UK’s vaccination programme, which has seen around 1 million Covid jabs given to adults in Dorset alone, the Prime Minister announced during a press conference on Monday that the final restrictions would now not be lifted until July 19.

He said the delay was due to the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, which makes up about 90 per cent of new infections, and that it was ‘crucial to give the NHS a few more weeks’.

The delay means restrictions will remain in place for hospitality businesses, while social distancing and mask wearing will be maintained. The only easing of restrictions is at weddings, where more than 30 guests will now be allowed.

Mr Drax has long been an outspoken opponent of lockdowns, which he claims are destroying livelihoods, wrecking the economy, ripping away vital life experiences for young people and leaving tens of thousands of patients untreated for other illnesses.

He said: “We have been living under these Orwellian and draconian rules since March 2020. We were led to believe that when we had a vaccine, when the data indicated that the situation was improving, when the NHS could cope, that our lives could return.

“We were told that date would be June 21 – and now, once again, the rug is pulled and we have to go for another few weeks with these restrictions. Even then with no guarantee that they will be lifted. I am so sorry for the businesses who will be impacted by this. So many of them are fighting to survive.

“We cannot use variants in the virus as an excuse to continue this. By this logic, we will never be free.

“It is incomprehensible and unacceptable that we are still in this position when so many people have been vaccinated, and we know how well the vaccines work.

“We are a freedom-loving, democratic country and I am angry that the restrictions will not be lifted when we promised.

“Variants of one kind or another will come and go for years and, frankly, it’s time to put our shoulders back and get on with our lives, free of the state.

West Dorset MP Chris Loder also said he is against the decision to extend lockdown.

He added: "Without some significant evidence to support the extension of lockdown restrictions, it is not in Dorset’s interests to continue these restrictions any further and I therefore cannot vote in support of this extension if it comes to the house for a vote.

Mr Loder said: "We are going to have to live with this virus. We cannot go on penalising sensible and responsible people here in Dorset, especially those who are older and vaccinated and when the case rate is only 3.6 cases per hundred thousand in the over 60s.

"As of last week, throughout Dorset, we have just one person who is poorly in hospital with Covid. It has almost been two months since anyone has died from Covid in Dorset. Public Health England are not talking about the real health issues that we experience such as making sure that older people can see their doctor in person if they need to, get access to dentists, get progress with routine operations and make sure we get people make to daily life."