Plans for rural areas with low infection rates to 'decouple' from those in strictest tiers in doubt

Proposals to “decouple” rural areas from the most restrictive coronavirus tiers have been thrown into doubt, after the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned of a third national lockdown if the country fails to “get the balance right”.

In a warning to backbench MPs, Mr Raab said there would be a “risk” of a third wave of coronavirus if the Government failed to implement the strict post-lockdown measures.

He refused to rule out another lockdown if there were another spike in cases in the new year, saying only that the Government was "doing everything we can to avoid that".

Mr Raab also said the Government would stick with a “countrywide” approach to allocating tiers despite some MPs in areas with low infection rates being told that their areas could be split from cities that had “unfairly” dragged them into Tiers 2 and 3.

He said: “The problem with keeping some of those almost enclave areas in lower levels is the rate spikes if they’re not under the same wider level of restriction."

He also said that areas would be “more likely” to move from Tier 3 to Tier 2 than to enter the lowest level of restrictions when the coronavirus measures are reviewed in mid-December.

He admitted: “I think it's more likely to see movement from Tier 3 to Tier 2 although that does make a significant difference for those areas that are affected.”

Meanwhile, Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said it would be a "terrible mistake" to relax restrictions just months before vaccines "start to have an effect".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said that at the first review of the measures on December 16 he would move areas down a tier if there is "robust evidence" that coronavirus is in sustained decline. £

In a letter to Conservative  MPs he also vowed the legislation would have a "sunset of February 3".

However, Prof Openshaw warned it was not time to “take the brakes off” coronavirus restrictions. £

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: "We scientists are very concerned indeed about relaxation of precautions at this stage. The rates are still too high, there's too many cases coming into hospitals, too many people dying.

"And if we take the brakes off at this stage, just when the end is in sight, I think we would be making a huge mistake.

"We've all sacrificed so much, everyone has sacrificed enormously in order to get the transmission rate down. With only a few months to go until vaccines start to have an effect I think it would just be a terrible mistake.”

Meanwhile, Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Defence Select Committee, warned strict restrictions on travel would be needed to make a ‘decoupling’ approach viable.

He said: "A more micro approach only works if you introduce a blanket rule of limiting movement across the nation. This has worked really well in Wales and other countries.

"The Prime Minister quite rightly said that in the current position we're in that you've got to draw the net wider for the fear that people will just flood into enclaves in lower tiers and go to the pub.

"Splitting these small areas away would only work if the Government considered a travel ban."