Covid passes 'not an infringement of liberties' says Newbury MP Laura Farris on voting in favour of Plan B

Newbury MP Laura Farris has defended her vote in favour of the recent Plan B coronavirus measures, calling Covid passes a “proportionate restriction”.

The vote was held yesterday (Tuesday) and has been put into effect from this morning (Wednesday).

Despite opposition from many Conservative MPs, Mrs Farris voted in favour, and said the passes were “not an infringement of civil liberties”.

The Conservative MP for Reading West Alok Sharma voted in favour of the measure but Conservative MP Wokingham for Sir John Redwood voted against.

Mrs Farris said: “I know not everybody agrees with this but I listened very carefully to Chris Whitty yesterday and to the urgency with which he described what was happening.

“I think that this is the sensible proportional requirement."

She added: “I think the next four to six weeks are going to be very, very challenging and I, therefore, support reasonable proportionate restrictions as a way of getting through that.”

When asked about wide public concerns with the practicality of such passes, Mrs Farris commented that “nothing is perfect”.

She said: "Maybe there are some flaws in it but I do think people are now understanding that [Omicron] is among us and is much more contagious than the Delta variant. It may turn out to be mild, but it may not”.

"It's an opportunity to show whether you are double vaccinated and everybody lives in a world of apps, the vast majority of people have that on their phone.

“If you have lost your card or you didn’t want a vaccination, you can do a negative lateral flow and I do not think that is a serious infringement of civil liberties."

She commented that it was a case of “trying to balance civil liberties, people’s interests and seeing families at Christmas with public health issues”.

Highlighting the importance of taking such measures, she added: "I do not want to see another lockdown and I certainly don’t want to see schools close again. My focus particularly is not closing schools."

Mrs Farris also said: “We have gone through the last six months where face masks were optional, other than on public transport, and now they have become obligatory again because we know they play some role.

“We also know the vaccines have been incredibly helpful so far but they have a waning efficacy."

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesperson for Newbury Lee Dillon said that he would have “voted differently”.

Mr Dillon said that he was in favour of mask wearing and vaccines for NHS workers, stating that it would mean that NHS would have less staff off sick, allowing for better planning within the NHS.

However, on the issue of the the introduction of Covid passes, he said that it will put "pressure on venues and local businesses".

He commented on the fact that these laws came into effect this morning and asked: “How are they geared up to deal with this?

"The Lib Dems have been clear we are not in favour."

Mr Dillon also said there were both technical and moral reasons for his difference of opinion.

He said: “It doesn’t work. Anybody who wants to go to a venue, can get a false negative test.”