DORSET MPs are seeking a meeting with the Prime Minister to make the case for why the county should be placed in Tier 1 of the coronavirus restrictions.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood said local politicians wish to put forward recommendations to the Government following last week's announcement that both the Dorset and BCP Council areas would be placed in Tier 2 restrictions in a matter of days.

Mr Ellwood said he met with members of the hospitality industry on Friday and they were "baffled" as to why the county had been placed into the stricter measures having entered the national lockdown in Tier 1.

Discussing the plans for a meeting with Boris Johnson, Mr Ellwood told the Daily Echo: "We are seeking one and I am sure it will be organised soon.

"We have requested the meeting so we can put forward the case for Dorset and for Bournemouth - see the data, analyse the data and better understand what is going on.

"There are a couple of recommendations we would make.

"Make better use of the Nightingales (hospitals) that would alleviate the pressure on Royal Bournemouth and Poole hospitals, which will reduce one of the criteria.

"Another one would be to introduce a national travel ban for a very short period of time, it wouldn't need to be very long, which would then allow genuine areas with low Covid incidences to remain in Tier 1, even if they are surrounded by Tier 3 because you are then limiting movement.

"The other one is using up to data because a lot of the data that we used for this was a week old and it is already starting to decay. Numbers in both BCP and Dorset have dropped by a third in the last couple of weeks so we are heading the right way.

"The tier system will cost Britain almost a billion pounds a day therefore if there is anyway of keeping any corner of the economy open and alive whilst also remaining safe, it should be pursued.

"There has been a geographic convenience in what the Government has done."

As reported, the Government said the factors it used in making the tier decisions included case detection rates in all age groups, case detection rates in the over 60s, the rate at which cases are rising or falling, the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken and pressure on the NHS, including current and projected occupancy.

A summary for the decision to place Dorset in Tier 2, which was posted online by the government, said: "Case rates are falling across the area (131 per 100,000 in all cases and 99 per 100,000 in the over 60s). However the over 60 case rate is still high at 151 per 100,000 in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

"Positivity is 5.2 per cent. In addition, the Dorset STP reports daily admissions to hospitals are increasing."