A NEW Forest MP has spoken out against another national lockdown.

New Forest West MP Sir Desmond Swayne said his constituency has “very low” infection rates of coronavirus and that as a result of this residents should not have to “suffer the damage.”

Speaking to BBC News, Sir Desmond said: “Against lockdowns as I am, nevertheless I’m vastly more favourable to the government’s policy of local lockdowns than to another national lockdown being imposed on us where in my constituency the infections are very low.

“Why should we suffer the damage to our economy and our mental health and social health and our individual liberty if actually the problem isn’t there.”

On the Test and Trace system, he said the UK was doing more testing than France and Spain “put together” and when questioned why it was only having a "marginal impact", he said that there are still people who don’t have symptoms and, as a result, don’t present for a test.

Sir Desmond said: “That’s the reality of this disease, lots of people never knew they had it and therefore don’t go for a test to get tested but for those people who do, we can plot the disease geographically.”