Bexhill and Battle MP tells government to ‘get a grip’ and criticises school face masks rule

His comments come after Whitehall’s U-turn in advising that secondary school students and staff should wear face coverings in communal areas of schools in areas of the country under a local lockdown.

Previously the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had insisted measures being adopted by schools to limit the spread of coronavirus meant face masks would not be required.

Mr Merriman expressed his frustration while speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

On the programme he said: “I think the Government needs to get a grip of our scientists. I’m sick and tired, and I think many people in the public are sick and tired, the science just changes.

“So that’s fine and then we say, ‘we’re listening to the science’, but why was the science saying something completely different beforehand?

“It’s baffling for many people, it’s causing uncertainty, it’s causing worry. People don’t know what the rules are any more. How can the science change from one day to the next?

“There comes a point in time where policy-makers have to get a grip on policy, decide what it is, be firm with it, be certain, give reassurance and say ‘this is the way we’re going to act’.

“It’s time we stopped hiding behind the science, which keeps changing, and we focus on the fact that we’re in charge, we give people reassurance, we say to people that the school is a safe setting.”

Mr Merriman said he did not think the decision to make pupils and staff wear face coverings was the right one.

He said on Radio 4’s Today programme: “I just absolutely fundamentally feel that young people just need to be able to get on with their education free of any encumbrance.

“Anything that sends a message out that it’s not safe in the corridor means that it can’t be safe in the classroom and we’re on a slippery slope.

“The worry is that if we’re saying it’s unsafe in the corridors, the next thing it’ll be unsafe in the classroom and that will really prove an impediment on people’s learning.

“And, quite frankly, as a Conservative MP that came into politics to try and help people’s life chances through school, I am sick and tired of the way that we are treating our young people.”

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Our priority is to get children back to school safely. At each stage we have listened to the latest medical and scientific advice.

“We have, therefore, decided to follow the World Health Organisation’s new advice.

“In local lockdown areas children in year 7 and above should wear face coverings in communal spaces.

“Outside of local lockdown areas face coverings won’t be required in schools, though schools will have the flexibility to introduce measures if they believe it is right in their specific circumstances.

“I hope these steps will provide parents, pupils and teachers with further reassurance.”

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