Up to 100 of Johnson's lawmakers are unhappy with COVID lockdown, minister says

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson views a PCR diagnostics machine with Director PHE Porton Down Alex Sienkiewicz in a laboratory during a visit to the Public Health England site at the Porton Down science park, near Salisbury, Britain November 27, 2020. Adrian Dennis/Pool via REUTERS

Up to 100 lawmakers in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party are unhappy with his COVID-19 tiered lockdown measures so the government may have to rely on the Labour Party to get it through parliament, Environment Secretary George Eustice said on Monday.

"The chief whip will be talking to those MPs who have concerns," he said.

"I've seen suggestions there could be up to a 100 or so people that have got concerns, but the prime minister and other ministers will be working very hard to reassure them about the steps we are taking."

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Environment Secretary George Eustice arrives for a cabinet meeting at the FCO in London, Britain September 22, 2020. Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Paul Sandle)