Ahead of the Government’s two-week review of Coronavirus restrictions tomorrow, Imran Hussain MP has called on Ministers to publish the reasoning behind moving areas into different Tiers of restrictions.

The call from Imran follows another week of falling Coronavirus infection rates across the Bradford District, with many areas in the region also now below the national average and below the infection rate seen in other areas which are currently under the less stringent Tier 2 restrictions.

Bradford has been placed under a series of different enhanced local restrictions since August following a rise in the infection rate after the lifting of the first national lockdown earlier this year, but the rate has now dropped to 169.5 in the seven days to 09 December 2020, lower than the rate in Tier 2 areas in the South such as Reading and Milton Keynes.

Speaking on his call for the Government to publish the evidence around their decision making, Imran said:

“With a sustained trend of declining infection rates across Bradford, there is a clear case for Bradford to be lifted out of Tier 3 restrictions, but we have no idea whether this will be enough as the Government continue to refuse to set out the thresholds and reasoning that they are using to make their decisions.

“People across Bradford have made immense sacrifices since we were first placed under enhanced local restrictions in August, and we have the right to know what is guiding the Government’s decision making, particularly when other areas which are under the lower Tier 2 restrictions are experiencing higher infection rates.

“If the Government decide tomorrow to keep Bradford under Tier 3 restrictions whilst other areas with higher infection rates are spared, they must tell us exactly what it will actually take to return to reduced restrictions, and they must guarantee support for those businesses they will keep closed at one of the busiest times of the year.”