THE members of parliament for Salisbury and the surrounding areas have urged people to stay home, as yet another national lockdown comes into force.

In a tweet posted on Tuesday morning, MP for Salisbury John Glen said: “The Prime Minister has announced a new national lockdown following the advice of the government’s scientific advisers.

“With the vaccination bringing us ever closer to ending the virus, we must now stay at home to protect the NHS, enabling them to continue their hard work safely.”

Mr Glen told the Journal: "This decision was certainly not taken lightly. While it is something we fought hard to avoid, we are in a constantly evolving situation.

"We have to be prepared to respond flexibly to the latest data on the spread of the new variant and take the necessary action to save lives and prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.”

In a post on his website, MP for Devizes Danny Kruger said that “we all need to play our part”, and urged people to stay at home.

He said: “I hope that, if you saw the Prime Minister’s broadcast, you will have followed his reasoning: that the rate of infection is simply too high to permit even the limited social contact that is allowed under our current Tier 3 restrictions, or indeed those in Tier 4 areas. The closure of schools until after the February half-term is perhaps the gravest blow.

“I have enormous sympathy with children who will be denied the company of friends and the experience of proper classroom teaching; with parents who will have to juggle work and homeschool once again; with teachers who will have to deliver their lessons remotely”.

Mr Kruger added that he knows “what an awful impact” the lockdown will have on local businesses, “who had a terrible 2020”.

He said: “The PM did, of course, highlight the key difference between the lockdown last March and this one: we now know that rescue is coming, indeed is here already. As he explained, the NHS plans to vaccinate all care home residents and staff, and everyone with extreme vulnerability, by mid February. From there, we can start to unlock our society once again, and finally emerge from the shadow of coronavirus.

“The Government has not got everything right in its response to the pandemic - far from it, and a proper inquiry must be held to learn the lessons. But some things have been done right and the commissioning of the vaccines is, so far, a great success story for the UK.

“I desperately hope that, this time, the promises of ‘world-beating’ processes are justified and we do indeed meet the ambitious timetable the PM has set”.