MPs divided over tier split
Splitting Shropshire from Telford and Wrekin in the Covid-19 tier system would make no difference to the ambition of working towards tier one, Telford MP Lucy Allan has said.
North Shropshire MP, Owen Paterson, wrote to health secretary, Matt Hancock last week urging him to split the two authorities in the tier system.
He maintains that Shropshire's rural areas have a much lower number of coronavirus cases than the more urban, Telford and Wrekin.
"I have also spoken to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care, Jo Churchill," Mr Paterson said.
"I feel that we have been unfairly grouped together."
"There are some areas in my constituency that are have figures as low as 60 cases per 100,000 population," he said.
However Lucy Allan said information she had received was that dividing the two areas would make no difference.
She said: "Public Health Officers and Council Officers of both councils have made clear that treating Shropshire differently to Telford & Wrekin would make no difference to the Tier status of Shropshire," she said.
"Tier 1 is currently requires extremely low rates of infection. It is of course the ambition for all areas to work towards Tier 1, but neither Shropshire nor Telford & Wrekin are there yet based on current benchmarks."
