LONDON (LifeSiteNews) – A British cabinet politician has refused to rule out an Austrian-style lockdown for the un-jabbed during an interview on nationwide radio Friday morning.
Appearing on major broadcast network TalkRadio Oliver Dowden, who serves as Minister without Portfolio and as co-chairman of the ruling Conservative Party, was asked whether the British government intended to follow suit with its continental counterparts Austria and Germany, both of which have announced tight restrictions on those who choose to forego receiving one of the abortion-tainted COVID-19 shots.
It’s really simple. “The British Government will never implement mandatory vaccines or impose lockdowns on the unvaccinated.” Full stop. No if’s, no but’s, no maybe’s, no “we’re not planning”, just WE WON’T DO IT.
The PM and EVERY minister need to state this loudly and clearly. https://t.co/S1h3dPwUMJ
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) December 3, 2021
“It’s not something we want to do or plan to do in the United Kingdom,” Dowden responded, refusing to condemn such measures or, indeed, rule out their implementation on British soil.
Continuing, the politician said that the reason why the government is avoiding lockdowns and mandatory jabs for now is “because of the booster.”
“People are taking that booster that is building up the wall again,” Dowden said, lauding the supposed efficacy of the top-up shots. “So as long as people, when they get the call-up, take that booster jab – it [the shot] will be open to everyone by the end of January – I’m confident we’ll have topped people up and we will be able to withstand [the virus] even given the challenges of this new [omicron] variant.”
In response, radio host and journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer commented that Dowden’s remarks amounted to saying, “If you get the jab, we won’t have to force you to get the jab” rather than admitting that “this is wrong, and we will never do it.”
Dowden, however, refused to accept Hartley-Brewer’s simple summarization, instead stating his opposition to the mandatory vaccination in principle, while justifying his support in practice.
“I do not agree in principle … with mandating vaccines, forcing people to have vaccines … The reason why we won’t have to contemplate those sorts of decisions is because of the efficacy of the booster.”
Hartley-Brewer again prompted Dowden, on the back of his confidence in the current crop of jabs and boosters, to rule out the need for locking down the unvaccinated or imposing a jab mandate; however, Dowden again refused to commit to such a statement.
“I despise lockdowns … it is not a decision that I, as a member of the cabinet, took lightly to support, but I did support it because I believed that the consequences of not doing so were much, much worse in terms of hospitals being overwhelmed,” the minister stated.
“The way we keep in this world is by making sure people keep on taking the boosters. As long as we keep on doing that, we avoid having to contemplate any of these things.”
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