Katy Balls Katy Balls

Nicola Sturgeon offers a glimpse of what lockdown easing will mean

(Getty images)

One issue the government is reluctant to discuss publicly is an exit strategy out of the lockdown. Inside 10 Downing Street, there’s a sense that it’s become a media obsession when the day-to-day focus ought to be encouraging the public to practise social distancing. During Wednesday’s press conference, chief medical officer Chris Whitty did discuss how long social distancing could be in place for, suggesting it would likely be for the calendar year as it was ‘wholly unrealistic’ to expect lockdown restrictions to be lifted wholesale.

Today Nicola Sturgeon has gone further than any Conservative minister is currently prepared to. The First Minister has started to set out what a gradual lifting of lockdown could look like. In an apparent swipe at the UK government, she said it was important to treat the public like adults and have a grown-up conversation.

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