THE government’s new system of coronavirus restrictions will have a punishing effect on local economies, a Labour MP warned today.

The Labour Party had whipped MPs to abstain from voting on the Tories’ tougher system of post-lockdown tier restrictions, set to take effect tomorrow. 

But Labour MP for Easington Grahame Morris, during a Commons debate before the vote, criticised the government for its “clear tactic” of putting opposition MPs under pressure to vote for the “not fit for purpose” system hours before it was due to come into force.