The Spectator

Britain is reopening. Now it needs rebuilding

[Getty Images]

The Prime Minister’s announcement that pubs, restaurants and many other facilities will be able to re-open on 4 July amounts to a significant and welcome easing of lockdown. As this magazine hoped, the Prime Minister has taken back control from the scientific advisers — who have been unable to resolve their lively disagreements — and put his faith in the British public. This includes moving towards a voluntary system, rather than asking police to enforce edicts.

A recent study found only three countries have been more reluctant to leave lockdown than Britain: Nicaragua, Algeria and iran. It’s a sad state of affairs – but reflects the failures of recent months. Britain has ended up with the most Covid deaths in Europe as well as facing the worst economic hit. The government put a lot of faith in lockdown as a drastic tool that would at least leave Britain with fewer deaths than countries that were then further along the epidemic curve. It is hard to argue that this strategy was a success. And while no country has covered itself in glory, Britain comes out worst than anyone in opinion polls asking how well the government has handled the crisis.

The Prime Minister’s instinct has always been to trust the public

In the Commons this week, Boris Johnson said that it would be a waste of time for an inquiry to pore over what went wrong. On the contrary, it would be very valuable to see what lessons can be learned, as they can inform his policy now. At the start of this epidemic we only had theory, drawn from Chinese data. One theory, advanced by Professor Neil Ferguson, was that the virus would grow exponentially until there was lockdown. Terrifying numbers were produced. It was guesswork from computer modelling and it was also, at the time, the only guide.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in