The UK government has been accused of running a “scaremongering propaganda campaign” as some of its own Conservative backbench MPs slammed the reintroduction of COVID-19 restrictions following the detection of the Omicron variant. The House of Commons on Tuesday passed new measures proposed by the government, under which face coverings must be worn in shops and public transport in England, all travellers returning to the UK must take a PCR test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result, and all contacts of suspected Omicron cases must self-isolate, regardless of their age or vaccination status. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a backbench rebellion, as 32 of his own Conservative MPs rebelled to oppose the self-isolation regulations, while 19 opposed the face-covering measures. During the debate, former minister Sir Christopher Chope called the new restrictions “oppressive, authoritarian, and dictatorial” and argued ministers had produced “no evidence whatsoever” to show the …