BLACKBURN MP Kate Hollern writes her fortnightly column for the Lancashire Telegraph...

THE spread of the Indian variant isn’t inevitable. Neither is another lockdown. The Government must take urgent action to contain it but that action must be proportionate.

The news has been full of reasons why the Indian variant is on the rise. People not following the rules and vaccine hesitancy are two that are often mentioned, but it isn’t as simple as that.

The evidence so far suggests that the Indian variant is more transmissible but no more deadly than the UK variant, so the focus should be preventing and breaking chains of transmission.

After much wrangling, the Government promised to provide Blackburn roughly 1,000 extra vaccines a day over two weeks. That is welcome and I encourage everyone to get their jab. That’s the best way of protecting yourself, and loved ones, Lancashire’s hospitals and local businesses.

Yet there are roughly 39,000 people in Blackburn who haven’t received their first dose, which means even after the additional vaccine supply is spent tens of thousands in Blackburn will have missed out.

That’s not because of vaccine hesitancy: the data shows that vaccination uptake in Blackburn is similar to uptake nationally and the last nine polls from YouGov have found that Brits are more pro-vaccine than almost anywhere else.

The problem isn’t people or places in the UK. The problem is with the Government.

It’s no secret that the Government’s approach to international travel is its kryptonite. India should have been placed on the red list at the beginning of April when Pakistan was, yet it wasn’t red-listed for another two weeks.

The same scenario played out last week and will no doubt continue this week. There are lots of countries on the amber list. The Government has made it legal to visit them and at the same time told people not to. Why the fudge?

Sadly, the Government is making the same mistakes as last year. Our borders are as leaky as a sieve.

Last week it was reported that there had been a serious national test and trace failure. Test and trace bosses failed to notify councils of hundreds of cases across the country, including nearly 300 cases in Blackburn. At least seven other local authorities were let down too, that we know of. That is a national scandal.

Again, it follows a litany of failures by test and trace – which the Government has ploughed billions into.

My message to the Prime Minister and Health Secretary is simple. Make more vaccines available for Blackburn and we’ll do the rest. People are desperate to get a jab.

Instead of pointing the finger, work with Blackburn. Increase self-isolation support so people can survive and if this variant has any impact on businesses then do everything in your power to make sure they’re protected.

We must keep the infection under control but that doesn’t mean we can’t return to normal safely. Lancashire has suffered enough.