💬 I wanted to support the Gov’t in this evening’s vote, but they have made it impossible for me to do so by not providing sufficient evidence their approach will do more good than harm ❌ With regret, I cannot support the Regulations tonight

Gov is asking MPs to vote on restrictions without knowing whether they’re proportional. And we’re now heading into infringements on our liberties around vaccinations & testing, which we’d never normally tolerate. Reluctantly, I must vote no tonight. #Road2Recovery

“We need to have logical, consistent, proportionate and fair regulations for people to have the confidence to follow them - these are not.” Why I am voting against the new regulations. 👇

Just in: the latest data on NHS bed occupancy in England. As you can see, throughout November and into December bed occupancy continued to track last year's average. (We are still working on getting day by day data for previous years.)

The gap between people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 vs. people admitted with Covid-19 plus diagnosed in hospital continues to be large. As we've explained before, this gap *could* be hospital-acquired Covid-19. See: x.com/Covid19DataUK/…

New graph: We've added the UK claimant count to the dashboard, going back to 2008 so that you can see the rise in the number of people needing help in context. As you can see, the claimant count is now dramatically higher than at any time in the last economic downturn.

Here we track redundancies in the UK. The figures are reported every month as a rolling total of 'the last three months'. The figure for October 2020 and the preceding three months is 369,919. We wish the people behind these statistics the very best for 2021.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Don’t judge young people evacuating London when you’re sat in your house by a wood-burning stove - surrounded by a family and a dog.

Dear Conservatives I have tried to understand. Really, I have... the pressure... the decisions. But you have now lost me. This is an utter shambles. You should be ashamed of yourselves. A joke of a government. I am done. 😡

No, it was very human behaviour- well within the law- by people who probably faced Christmas alone and had been bounced into travelling en masse because of the midnight deadline.

😥

That ship sailed quite some time ago.

This is another model, isn't it 🧐 Stand by for the 'uhh, actually...' in mid-Jan.

Time to recall Parliament. conservativehome.com/platform/2020/…

Huge congratulations to Daniel Hannan, CfL's honorary president, and Syed Kamall, member of our advisory board, on their elevation to the House of Lords. It's fantastic to see their dedication and hard work over many decades recognised.

Big story here.

Join us, @JHowellUK, Alexander Adamescu, and former German intelligence chief Dr August Hanning as we shine a light into the murky world of political corruption and the open secrets of the intelligence community. FB event: facebook.com/events/2265086… Via Zoom: zoom.us/j/92628841417

Heading to #cpc21 next week? Make sure you've signed up for the best event at conference (and told your mates) - #FreedomFizz with special guest speaker @SirGrahamBrady. Tuesday 5th, 10:30pm til late, Peaky Blinders Bar, 23 Peter Street. RSVP here: con4lib.com/freedom-fizz-a…

If you're at #cpc21 and haven't signed up for #FreedomFizz with @SirGrahamBrady, you have until midday to correct your error. Join 350 others and RSVP here: con4lib.com/freedom-fizz-a…