The government has been accused of producing a “rehashed document” in a bid to quell a Tory rebellion over its strengthened coronavirus tiers.
Ministers have released an impact assessment of the new tiered system ahead of a Commons vote on Tuesday.
Boris Johnson is battling to avoid a damaging Conservative revolt over the measures, with many of his MPs unhappy with the new system.
Its assessment says that while the new restrictions will have a “significant” impact on the economy, allowing COVID-19 to run unchecked would be “much worse” for public health.
The document states that failing to keep stringent measures in place would see the NHS overwhelmed and lead to an “intolerable” loss of life.
But in a withering assessment, a senior Tory MP has claimed the impact assessment contains little new information.
“With little over 24 hours until MPs vote on the new tiered system, this rehashed document offers very little further in economic terms other than that which the OBR published last week,” Treasury Select Committee chair Mel Stride said.
“It’s frustrating that there is little here that sets out how the different tiers might impact on the specific sectors and regions across the country.
“Those looking for additional economic analysis of the new tiered system will struggle to find it in this document.”
Analysis: Tiers assessment may not satisfy sceptical MPs
By Tom Rayner, political correspondent
Conservative opponents of the new regional tier restrictions have been very specific about what they wanted to see from the government’s impact assessment of the new tier system.
Mark Harper, the former chief whip and chair of the COVID Recovery Group, said MPs needed to know the social and economic impact of “every proposed restriction” within each tier before they cast their votes in the Commons on Tuesday.
But the document published by the government does not do that.
Instead it says “it is not possible to forecast the precise economic impact of a specific change to a specific restriction with confidence”.
There is acknowledgement that the latest forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility was based on the looser tier system in place before the England-wide lockdown, and therefore the new tougher version of the regional tier system could see greater short-term economic losses “to the extent that average restrictions in the UK are stricter”.
But an assessment of the economic impact of only being able to go to a pub with your own household in Tier 2, for example, is not included.
The broad justification for the tier system set out in the document is the same made by ministers in recent days – that while there will be economic and social costs, failing to act and risking the NHS being overwhelmed would be “intolerable for our society”.
But for Conservative backbenchers considering voting against the government, the repetition of this argument may not be sufficient to change their minds.
They know the argument but they want to see solid evidence to justify it, and it’s not clear this document will be perceived to have provided that.