The majority of Conservative Party voters and a plurality of Britons as a whole are in favour of making the Chinese coronavirus vaccines mandatory, a poll from YouGov has suggested.
The survey found that by a margin of 54 per cent to 33 per cent, Conservatives in the UK are in favour of forced coronavirus vaccinations. The poll also said that the country as a whole is in favour of the draconian measure, by a margin of 49 to 34 per cent.
The support for compulsory vaccinations was less prevalent amongst Labour Party voters, with 37 per cent opposed to the idea compared to 46 per cent in support. When broken down by support for Brexit the support shifts, however, with 50 per cent of Remainers in support and 49 per cent of Leavers in favour of the idea.
Staunch Brexiteer Steve Baker MP said that the poll was “unbelievable” in “several senses”. The Conservative MP went on to proclaim that he “will oppose compulsory vaccination against COVID19” if the measure is presented in Parliament.
Baker went on to quote British author and Christian theologian C.S. Lewis who said: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive… Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
Former Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan also expressed his displeasure about the poll, saying: “National emergencies, or perceived collective threats of any kind, make people extraordinarily authoritarian. Even if the disease ended tomorrow, we would be in for decades of intrusive, illiberal politics.”
On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock refused to rule out the possibility of introducing mandatory vaccination, should the government deem it necessary.
The Health Secretary said that the pandemic has taught him to “not rule things out,” going on to say that the government will “have to watch what happens and you have to make judgments accordingly.”
Expressing that, in essence, the government could move to make vaccinations mandatory if voluntary takeup isn’t high enough, Hancock said: “If there was an effective vaccine, and because of low uptake we were still seeing deaths in large numbers, then we would have to consider it”.
There has been a concerted push against so-called “anti-vax conspiracy theories” amongst the British establishment, with the Conservative government pressing social media companies to flag or remove “fake news” about vaccines.
The opposition Labour Party has gone a step further, calling for criminal and financial penalties for the dissemination of “anti-vax” posts.
“This is literally a matter of life and death and anyone who is dissuaded from being vaccinated because of this is one person too many,” said Labour shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens.
Another shock poll released this week, conducted by the research firm ORB International, claimed that 80 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of criminal prosecutions against people who share ‘misinformation’ about vaccines on the internet.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.