North East businesses are "not able to function" because so many staff are self-isolating due to Covid, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned.
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell told Mr Johnson the problem was likely to get worse as lockdown restrictions came to an end, with the remaining rules expected to go on July 19.
And she said staffing problems were particularly severe in the North East, because infection rates were higher than elsewhere.
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Quizzing the Prime Minister, she said: "Businesses are facing huge staffing issues with many having to isolate, and therefore not able to function as businesses... particularly on those industries where a lot of young people are employed.
"Does the Prime Minister have the data for the relaxations he is proposing and how those businesses are going to be affected over the next two to three months, give that we are already seeing the impact of high Covid levels in areas like the North East?"
Younger people were more likely to become ill because they had not been vaccinated, and some businesses depended on younger workers to operate, she said. Ms McKinnell highlighted nursery schools as one example, saying: "Cases are skyrocketing and nurseries are in the position of having to turn families away"
In response, the Prime Minister said businesses would be helped by ending restrictions in what he calls step four of the "roadmap" out of lockdown.
He said: "It looks as though we'll get through to step 4 which will allow them to open up fully without the need for the one metre rule. That's the most positive thing that can happen."
He complained that Ms McKinnell was trying to "have it both ways" by saying she wanted businesses to succeed and also complaining when they were allowed fully to re-open. Ms McKinnell said she was asking the Prime Minister whether the Government had any data on how businesses would be affected, not opposing the end of lockdown.
It comes as latest official figures show six of the ten local authorities with the highest rate of confirmed Covid-19 cases are in the North East. These are cases where someone has tested positive in the last seven days.
| Local authority | Number of cases | Rate per 1000,00 people |
Dundee City |
1,343 |
899.4 |
South Tyneside |
1,157 |
766.3 |
Midlothian |
699 |
756 |
Newcastle upon Tyne |
2,199 |
726.2 |
Gateshead |
1,363 |
674.6 |
North East Lincolnshire |
1,076 |
674.3 |
Sunderland |
1,784 |
642.4 |
East Lothian |
655 |
611.6 |
North Tyneside |
1,252 |
602.2 |
County Durham |
3,175 |
599 |
Mr Johnson was speaking to the House of Commons Liaison Committee, which includes Ms McKinnell as a member.
He also defended the decision to delay the easing of the rules on self-isolation when lockdown restrictions are lifted in England on July 19.
The Government has said people who are fully vaccinated will not have to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 from August 16.
Giving evidence to the Commons Liaison Committee, the Prime Minister was pressed on suggestions that it could lead to an additional five million being forced to quarantine at home as a result.
Mr Johnson said: “All these decisions are a balance of risk. This is a highly contagious disease. We have to do what we can to stop its spread.
“We have been looking at all the data and trying to strike the right balance. You could say we are going to dispense altogether with self-isolation and move straight to a testing regime.
“The difficulty with that is that you would effectively be allowing many more people to be vectors of disease than by continuing with our plan.”
