Patel: Minority of Public Putting Britain’s Health at Risk

Patel: Minority of Public Putting Britain's Health at Risk

The Home Secretary was speaking at a Downing Street press conference alongside senior police officials - Image Source: Priti Patel

UK HOME SECRETARY Priti Patel has warned that a minority of the public are putting Britain’s health at risk as she gave her support to stronger police powers.

At a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday (January 12th), Priti Patel said that a minority of Brits are “putting the nation’s health at risk” as she gave her support to increasing police powers to enforce lockdown restrictions.

Martin Hewitt, the chairman of the National Police Chief’s Council, said that more officers would be deployed nationwide to impose fines on those in breach of lockdown rules. Over 45,000 people have been slapped with penalties for such offenses since March.

“It is very clear that we are now at the most dangerous stage of the pandemic“, said Hewitt, “There is a real and present risk that our health service could be overwhelmed and people – our friends and family – could die needlessly for this virus”.

During the Number 10 briefing, Priti Patel mistakenly said that “outdoor recreation” was still permitted, having reportedly meant to say “exercise”.

Police groups from across Britain have recently called on the government to strengthen their “incredibly vague” rules so that forces can adequately and fairly apply sanctions on those in breach of restrictions.


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Oisin Sweeney

Oisin is an Irish writer based in Seville, the sunny capital of Andalucia. After starting his working life as a bookseller, he moved into journalism and cut his teeth as a reporter at one of Ireland's biggest news websites. Since joining Euro Weekly News in November, he has enjoyed covering the latest stories from Seville, Spain and further afield - with special interests in crime, cybersecurity, and European politics. Anyone who can pronounce his name first try gets a free cerveza...

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