The government must be as ready to remove restrictions as it was to impose them

For days, the Prime Minister had been resisting the kind of measures which have placed many other countries into lockdown, confining their citizens largely to their homes. Civil servants had pointed to studies saying that many ‘social distancing’ strategies might do more harm than good. In the end, the trajectory of the virus — and the global response — meant the restrictions now in place were inevitable. But at every stage, the Prime Minister has made it clear he was acting with reluctance. While he has been criticised by those seeking a heavier-handed approach, opinion polls suggest most of the country is with him.

Yet public opinion can be fickle. Support for the emergency measures is predicated on the belief that they will rapidly bring down the number of new cases of Covid-19 and related deaths. People may be inclined to take a different view if the measures have failed to reduce the death toll — or indeed if reports from Britain and around the world suggest that the virus is not as catastrophic as first feared. The death toll in Britain may reach 250,000, the figure discussed by government as a reasonable worst-case scenario, or it may end up nowhere near that. We just don’t know.

That is why David Davis was right to demand a sunset clause to the Bill imposing these unprecedented restrictions, meaning its powers will have to be reviewed after six months. Before long, we will have a much better idea about whether the lockdown is warranted. Our understanding of the virus could increase to the point where it’s safe to re-open schools and sections of the economy — and that could be within weeks, rather than months.