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Here are the MPs who voted against England's third coronavirus lockdown

A shopper at a quiet market in Birmingham on Wednesday. MPs have retrospectively approved Boris Johnson's coronavirus lockdown for England. (Jacob King/PA)
A shopper at a quiet market in Birmingham on Wednesday. MPs have retrospectively approved Boris Johnson's coronavirus lockdown for England. (Jacob King/PA)

This is a list of the MPs who have voted against England’s third coronavirus lockdown.

Boris Johnson imposed the lockdown on Monday but MPs were voting in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening to retrospectively approve it.

The vote came after the UK’s daily COVID-19 death toll passed 1,000 for the first time since April, and a record 62,322 new infections were recorded.

As expected, the lockdown regulations passed the vote comfortably with 524 voting for – though 16 MPs, including 12 Conservatives, voted against.

Watch: What you can and can't do during England's third national lockdown

Here are the MPs who voted against lockdown:

  • Sir Graham Brady (Conservative, Altrincham and Sale West)

  • Philip Davies (Conservative, Shipley)

  • Richard Drax (Conservative, South Dorset)

  • Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party, South Antrim)

  • Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party, Upper Bann)

  • Karl McCartney (Conservative, Lincoln)

  • Stephen McPartland (Conservative, Stevenage)

  • Esther McVey (Conservative, Tatton)

  • Anne Marie Morris (Conservative, Newton Abbot)

  • Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party, North Antrim)

  • Andrew Rosindell (Conservative, Romford)

  • Sir Desmond Swayne (Conservative, New Forest West)

  • Sir Robert Syms (Conservative, Poole)

  • Sir Charles Walker (Conservative, Broxbourne)

  • David Warburton (Conservative, Somerton and Frome)

  • Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party, East Antrim)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Conservative Party leader and MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, wears a face mask leaving 10 Downing Street to head to Parliament in London, England, on January 6, 2021. MPs vote today on whether to approve the England-wide coronavirus lockdown announced by the prime minister on Monday night. (Photo by David Cliff/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson in Downing Street on Wednesday. (David Cliff/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Johnson has previously faced open opposition from some Tory MPs to the government’s COVID restrictions during the pandemic. When reimposing the three-tier system in December, 53 Conservatives voted against it, the biggest rebellion Johnson has faced as prime minister.

Given the seriousness of the current COVID situation – Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was “perhaps the darkest moment of the pandemic” so far – less Tories rebelled at Wednesday’s vote.

However, a number of those rebels made a point of sharing their anger in the Commons on Wednesday. Sir Desmond Swayne accused Johnson of “pettifogging malice” as he bemoaned the closure of golf clubs.

A deserted Luton town centre on Wednesday during Boris Johnson's third lockdown. (Joe Giddens/PA)
A deserted Luton town centre on Wednesday during Boris Johnson's third lockdown. (Joe Giddens/PA)

Another, Sir Charles Walker, said: “I can’t support this legislation tonight. I can’t support criminalising a parent for seeing a child in the park.”

He added some people are “going to break”, and that MPs and journalists, “instead of sneering and dismissing them, instead of calling them ‘Covidiots’, should show some compassion and understanding”.

Andrew Rosindell, meanwhile, said he would not support a “fundamental assault” on people’s freedoms.

Watch: Matt Hancock says restrictions will remain in place until they are no longer necessary

Other Tory lockdown sceptics, while not rebelling, made clear their unease. Mark Harper, chair of the COVID Recovery Group, called for the restrictions to be reviewed next month instead of the end of March. He abstained in the vote.

Opening the debate on the legislation earlier on Wednesday, health secretary Matt Hancock had told MPs: “I understand that these regulations that we debate today have serious consequences and I regret the huge costs they bring.

“But I know just as surely that these costs are by far outweighed by the costs that we would bear without action.”

He added: “Today I come to the House seeking approval of these regulations knowing from the huge pressure on the NHS right now that this action is necessary today, but also with the certain knowledge that we have a way out [with the ongoing rollout of vaccines].”

Repeating the government’s “stay at home” mantra, Hancock said this will ultimately “carry us to a brighter future”.

Stating Labour’s support for the lockdown, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth had said: “This is a national emergency and a national lockdown is necessary.

“Indeed, we should have locked down sooner. We are voting this lockdown through on the twelfth night, yet in the run-up to Christmas the alarm bells should have been ringing.”

MPs’ approval of the regulations now means the national lockdown can be in place until 31 March, though Hancock insisted the government will be looking to ease the restrictions before then as more vulnerable people are vaccinated.

Watch: How lockdown will impact education