CAROLINE ANSELL MP: Tread carefully, and stay focused on the medical advice

There is an end in sight and other countries have trod this path.

Garden centres have opened, some sports such as golf and tennis, can now take place. More recreational activities are permitted within a family. It’s a cautious start.

The government’s job retention, or furlough, scheme has been extended until October and that I know has been greeted with huge relief in many quarters and there’s a new expectation and understanding that some businesses need to bring some employees back on a part-time basis.

It is progress but it’s also a dangerous and delicate time even though infection rates and deaths are falling.

We must do all we can to avoid a second wave of this virus and that means we must also keep to social distancing guidelines too and soon through track and trace.

That much I think we can all agree on but there is no doubt some have very definite - but opposing - views around what the government should do in this sensitive phase as we endeavour to move towards recovery.

On multiple levels, the lockdown has come at a great personal cost to many and to the country.

Some who write to me make the case for an immediate lifting of restrictions, others remain very fearful for themselves and their families and are anxious about any easing.

I understand both of these views.

Move too fast, and infection rates will go up and people – many of them vulnerable - will die. Move too slowly and diagnoses of illnesses like cancer will not happen - costing lives that could have been saved.

There is no easy answer other than to tread carefully, stay focused on the medical advice.

In essence the right way here is the middle way and that’s what the government is doing.

I would like to say a huge thank you to all those who have worked throughout this period to keep the lights on and to pay tribute to our new army of volunteers, with a special mention this week for Box Full of Rainbows, and to the ingenuity and resilience of many local entrepreneurs who are even now mobilising and adapting to bounce back.

There’s going to be a great deal of rebuilding work to do from here on in, but we can do anything, if we do it together.

Stay safe, look after each other and keep in touch.