I was pleased to be able to attend the debate on excess deaths in Parliament on Friday, opened by Andrew Bridgen MP. It was an Adjournment Debate, meaning it comes at the end of the day's main business, and does not include a vote; Adjournment Debates are generally not well attended, and this being a Friday when most MPs are in their constituencies, I was pleased that so many MPs did actually make it, on my (Conservative) side at least - the opposition benches were empty save for the solitary shadow minister on duty, and Mr Bridgen.
There is clearly a major problem with excess deaths, and given the obsessive coverage of the daily death toll during the pandemic, it is quite wrong how little political and media attention is given to this.
Andrew Bridgen's view is that the vaccines are to blame. I defend his right to make this argument without being smeared and defamed. Most importantly - and given the number of people who agree with him, and the falling rates of trust in vaccines we are seeing in the population - the Government should take active steps to investigate his claims and either admit them, modify them or rule them out. MPs like me could then give confident reassurance to our constituents, based on evidence.
I wrote to the Health Secretary with this suggestion earlier in the year, and in the debate on Friday I called for the Government to commission a proper study of the excess deaths phenomenon. I was sorry the Minister did not reply to this suggestion, and I shall continue to press for greater attention to the issue, and transparency of evidence.
