MP explains why he defied party to vote against Covid measures putting Hartlepool in Tier 3

New tier restrictions have been brought in today after being approved by MPs in the House of Commons in a vote yesterday evening, with Hartlepool placed in Tier 3.

However Labour representative Mr Hill voted against the measures, despite party leader Keir Starmer’s whip to abstain on the vote.

Mr Hill was one of 15 Labour MPs who voted against the restrictions.

He said he voted against the new tier restrictions due to the harm they would do to businesses and livelihoods in Hartlepool, adding people in the region deserve better.

He said: “I understand the need for restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19 and I understand the need to tackle the pandemic every way that we can.

“However, small businesses, self-employed people and those out of work in Hartlepool are suffering.

“I am not against further restrictions to stem the ‘R’ rate, but I cannot and will not vote for the proposals as they currently stand. The people of Hartlepool deserve better than what they are being offered.”

He added the Government had ‘not learned their lessons’ from the first wave of the pandemic and the proposals offered no hope to small businesses who fear they won’t be able to pay their bills this Christmas.

Mr Hill added: “I am still hearing from small businesses which have not received the support they deserve and need to survive.

“This is mostly due to minor technicalities in the rules which still have not been fixed seven months on from the start of payments.

“Nothing in the Government’s proposals offers any hope to those who fear they won’t be able to pay their bills this Christmas and beyond it.”

Mr Hill also noted the lack of funding offered to local authorities as part of the latest restrictions will badly impact Hartlepool Borough Council.

He said: “Hartlepool Borough Council only just have the funding available to them to cover the costs of this crisis after a decade of savage and politically motivated cuts in Westminster.

“Yet the Government expects Hartlepool Borough Council to manage the crisis in Hartlepool without the full support we desperately need.”

Hartlepool Borough Council leader Cllr Shane Moore had previously written to the town’s MP Mike Hill calling on him to vote against the new tier restrictions.

Cllr Moore said the new Covid tier restrictions will have a ‘devastating impact’ on hundreds of businesses in the town’s hospitality sector.

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