Bolton West MP Chris Green has spoken out about his reasons for resigning from his role as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Department for Education.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News this afternoon (October 14), Mr Green revealed that one of the fundamental reasons was the recent economic lockdown in the borough, which saw pubs, restaurants, and cafes closed for more than three weeks.
Mr Green, whose constituency also includes Atherton in the Wigan borough, along with Bolton towns such as Horwich and Westhoughton, accused the government of seeing the current situation "through the prism of the peak of the pandemic" and claimed that the government are planning a "repeat of the last six months".
He said: "The main point is that Bolton's been through the Greater Manchester lockdown for ten weeks, three weeks of which was a more extreme economic lockdown, which really caused a lot of people hardship.
"You'd expect having such an extreme lockdown that the transmission rate would decrease significantly, instead we just saw it rocket up. It clearly failed and the government should take account of that and their approach should reflect that reality. Instead, the government seems to be set on doing a repeat of the last six months.
"We have to understand the situation that we're in now rather than only see it through the prism of the peak of the pandemic.
"Our medical understanding of this coronavirus has advanced immeasurably. We have existing, good quality safe and effective drugs that have transformative effects in protecting people so they don't end up in extensive care.
"There's other techniques that medical professionals are using to ensure the survivability is far better now than at the peak of the pandemic."
On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Greater Manchester would be placed in 'Tier 2' of the new three-tier alert system.
Mr Green said he would be "appalled" if Greater Manchester was moved to Tier 3 and pubs had to close once more. He also suggested such a move would make people see the government as "erratic and unreliable" and could cause a "swelling up of resentment".
"I would be appalled if the decision to take us from tier 2 to a more restrictive regime happened," he added.
"The decision has been made and without significant good reason it should not be moved.
"This is massively disruptive to people's normal lives but especially it has a damaging effect on high street businesses. Just think of a restaurant or a cafe that gets in a whole stock of food to be told they have to shut down.
"Huge expenses happen if the system is seen to be erratic and unreliable. It undermines wider confidence in if the scientists and the government have got it right.
"I don't think anyone really anticipates that the vaccination will be ready by March next year. Even if there is one approved, it will take such a long time for it to be rolled out across the country, so we'll still need additional measures, whether that's circuit breakers or lockdowns.
"What I do expect, as more of the country has more extreme lockdowns imposed, is that people will start reacting to it in a way that people across Greater Manchester have done. I think there will be a swelling up of resentment from the people."
Mr Green is remaining in the Conservative Party and will remain as MP of the Bolton West constituency.
He said: "Having gone through such an economically difficult time, I know the Conservative Party can get us out of it."
