A Bolton MP has said that all coronavirus restrictions should be lifted as soon as possible.

Chris Green, MP for Bolton West and Atherton, said in a radion interview this morning that restriction should be lifted immediately, rather than following the gradual roadmap set out by the government.

He said this is so people can return to a normal life, and to 'reduce the huge hospital waiting lists' for vital care.

He told talkRADIO: "I think as a politician you have to look at everything in and around you and I don't know what these experts are really doing.

"Are they ignoring everything else in society, children's education, businesses opening up, because in Bolton businesses are preparing for next week.

"If we have a lockdown, all of the work they've put into it, all the staff coming back into work, all the new produce they've brought in that would have to be dumped. That's a huge problem.

"How narrowly are they looking at this. I would think the priority would be when we've got about five million people waiting for hospital treatment, about 400,000 people who have waited over a year you can make the argument the other way around.

"We should get rid of all restrictions now to enable people to get that vital hospital treatment, that life saving treatment for cancer, heart disease, that's the priorty."

He accompanied this with a Tweet saying: "We need to fully unwind from lockdown as soon as possible so people can return to normal and we can start to reduce the huge hospital waiting list."