We need to talk about vaccine passports...
Today is a huge day in British history, and potentially a make or break one for our Prime Minister.
We’re hearing that around 80 Tory MPs may rebel and vote against Boris Johnson’s plans, and in the last couple of hours the Labour Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has pulled out of the vote due to Covid.
There’s a chance this could lead to some other Labour MPs self-isolating and therefore, even fewer votes in favour of Boris’ plans.
But it’s the Tory rebels that are a real conundrum for Boris Johnson. They come from right across the party, and they’re rebelling for a variety of different reasons. There are ultra-Conservatives, libertarians, wets…it’s across the board.
Boris is apparently meeting with the backbench 1922 committee at around 5.30pm, with the actual vote expected around 6.30.
For Tory MPs it will be their first rebellion, and whilst the Prime Minister's plans are expected to go through, it’s what’s known in Sir Alex Ferguson footballing terms as ‘squeaky bum time’ and it means that Boris Johnson may well, for the remainder of his Premiership, be battling against a significant level of mutiny within his own ranks.
It also means that the second the Labour Party decides to not support Boris’ measures, it’s game over. A constant sword of Damocles hanging over his head. I think one thing that’s gone underreported is whether or not the SNP should be allowed a vote on this.
They’ve said they’ll support the government, but this stuff doesn’t affect them. So the SNP will have an influence over English peoples lives by getting to vote on legislation that will have no impact on them whatsoever.
Can you imagine if that was the other way around? Nicola Sturgeon would turn puce and start stomping her feet, crying freedom. The irony is, of course, by waving Boris Johnson's legislation through, she keeps him in a job and, with that, ensures that the chance of having an independence referendum remains non-existent.
The case for vaccine passports is that there is a dangerous new strain on the loose and in order to keep other people safe, it’s important for people to show they’ve been fully jabbed before they enter a nightclub, indoor unseated venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people and any venue with more than 10,000 people – OR proof of a negative test taken in the past 48 hours, or that they have an exemption.
But there’s definitely another side to this as well, isn’t there? A vaccine passport is a document that shows you can still contract Covid and pass it on, although vaccines do supposedly reduce the strength of the virus.
I have a feeling that once they’re imposed, they’ll never be removed. They’ll be here forever, Britain will be a country that will always have Covid passports. Why? Because we’re constantly being told that Covid will be here forever. So, by definition, so will the passports. And then why now is another issue.
Over this current variant? Over Omicron? Many people find this hard to swallow – all of the early indications appear to show that Omicron is more transmissible but less harmful.
And that is potentially a very good thing. The latest data out of South Africa appears to show that four per cent of patients died, compared with a fifth in the other waves of infection, according to the data.
That’s a staggering drop. But there could be other factors for this, higher initial infection rates, a younger population… But if Omicron’s severity really is lower, if all the data really does show that Omicron is less harmful, it hints towards another reason why Boris may have gone nuclear – to save his own skin.
Are new covid restrictions, including permanent Covid Vaccine Passports, actually being introduced as a tactic to get dodgy Christmas parties, wallpaper and sleaze off the front pages and out of peoples mouths?
It’s that question, and the possibility that it may very well be true, that is making some MPs reluctant to vote for it. It’s an historic day in British history, an historic vote, which way would you vote, and why?