Do it for the common good, says Caroline Lucas MP
Each week the New Social Covenant Unit recognises Members of Parliament for their covenantal credentials as spotted on the green benches.
This week, the debate on the new Covid-19 regulations saw MPs from across the House venture into new political territory. Could a new radical consensus be emerging from the fall out over the restrictions?
On Tuesday night, both left and right resisted authoritarian and ‘laissez faire’ instincts, instead calling on the government to create the conditions for virtue through governance that trusts the people.
Here is Green Party MP Caroline Lucas calling on the government to be honour the ‘common good’ as opposed to more coercive measures.
If we want more people to be vaccinated—and believe me, I absolutely do—that is the bottom line, but we have to build the sense that vaccination is being done for the community, not to it. It is for the common good. Behavioural science clearly indicates that coercion undermines the relationships we need to build and the respect we must show one another in order to increase vaccination rates, and we do everyone a massive disservice by ignoring that science.