Just 12 Conservative Members of Parliament rebelled against the Tory government and voted down the controversial ‘rule of six’ coronavirus social distancing law.
While the law is already in force and the motion voted on Tuesday night was purely retrospective, it gave the so-called band of Conservative rebels the opportunity to offer a protest against the government’s rule of six, which limits socialising to no more than six people. Many Tories called for the number to be increased to eight and for children to be omitted from the total count.
However, just 12 MPs lodged their protest, amongst them several well-known Brexiteers. The dissenters were: Peter Bone, Sir Graham Brady, Philip Davies, Richard Drax, Philip Hollobone, Esther McVey, Huw Merriman, Henry Smith, Desmond Swayne, Robert Syms, Charles Walker, William Wragg.
“As the debate on the floor of the House revealed there isn’t a reason for the Rule of 6 — it could just as easily be the Rule of 7, 8, or 9. For that reason, I voted against it. We can’t curb people’s freedoms and families abilities to meet without any justification to do so,” Ms McVey, a “blue-collar” Tory, had said.
A bigger rebellion, however, was expected over the vote on the 10 pm curfew, which was speculated to take place on Wednesday night.
However, The Telegraph reported that it would be debated on Monday, instead, due to the high number of Tories expected to rebel against the government. Labour is also allegedly refusing to back the motion unless they see the scientific evidence behind the government’s decision-making.
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