'There isn't an MP who could live on £96 a week': Around the House panel discuss Covid rules lifting
The full debate from February's Around the House
Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald has slammed the amount given out by the government for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) saying: "There isn't an MP who could live on £96 a week."
Sick pay is currently £96.35 per week but the Labour MP doesn't think this is enough for people to survive.
Despite it not being a legality to self-isolate when getting a positive Covid test, some think this will put the vulnerable at risk.
Appearing on Around The House with Tom Sheldrick, Andy McDonald was asked what he thought about sick pay and if the public could afford to be off work isolating.
He believes Statutory Sick Pay should be increased to a more reasonable amount.
He said: "I'm gravely concerned and I've raised it time and time again. There isn't an MP who could live on £96 a week, we all accept that is nowhere near a sensible level but the fact that people can't even access that meagre support until four days into a period of sickness."
The current Sick Pay rules for Covid are:
You must self-isolate for at least 4 days to be eligible for SSP.
You can get SSP for every day you were self-isolating if you started on or after 13 March 2021.
If you started self-isolating before 13 March 2021, you can get SSP from: the fourth day you were sick if you had COVID-19 symptoms and if you were self-isolating because someone you live with had symptoms.
Some people have argued that the Prime Minister decided to end Covid restrictions, including isolation, at this point due to the position he was in while being accused of breaking lockdown rules himself by attending parties.
Conservative MP Guy Opperman said that Boris Johnson has removed the laws surrounding isolation due to the country needing to get back to "normal".
He said: "We all can see that this country needs to get back to normal and that is a managed journey and there is a journey that we're all going to have to go on.
"Yes there is a personal responsibility, yes certain cohorts are certainly going to have to be much more careful than other cohorts but at this stage, we have to get on with our lives."