Politics

New lockdown rules analysis: Boris Johnson hoping community spirit will see public follow more complicated system



This week, the rules of lockdown get more complicated – and therefore more difficult to explain or enforce.

For instance, you will be allowed to drive your car, if you have one, to the beach to sunbathe – but you still can’t use a bus to get to one of the capital’s great parks. This must seem illogical and unfair to the millions of Londoners who do not have a car and rely on public transport.

The challenge for the Government is to explain its reasoning well enough that queues do not form for the Brighton train at the next sunny weekend.


There are more pressing complications. Last night the Prime Minister urged people to go back to work  but to “avoid public transport”. That might make sense to non-Londoners but not to commuters from anywhere beyond Zone 2.

The comedian Matt Lucas satirised the message as “Go to work; don’t go to work.” At Transport for London, they were worrying about a potential “spike” in passenger numbers that would strain the socially-distanced network.

Another complication is that leaders of the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales are implementing different rules.

In London, the Mayor takes a tougher line than the Prime Minister on lockdown: He wants it to become socially unacceptable to use the Underground without a face covering, while the PM will say they are to be encouraged but very much on a voluntary basis.

Also confusing is the decision to scrap the crystal clear “stay home” slogan in favour of “stay alert”, which everyone outside No 10 thinks is meaningless in relation to a virus that cannot be seen or heard.

“Staying at home is very much part of staying alert,” one Government official argues, in an attempt to square the circle.

The complications are a result of contradictory pressures. The Prime Minister is simultaneously trying to save lives and trying to save businesses from collapse. That means encouraging some people back to work, at the same time as pleading with as many as possible to stay at home.

The PM is having to balance tensions in Cabinet between hawks like Rishi Sunak who want the economy opened and confidence boosted, and doves who are nervous of moving too quickly and creating a disastrous second peak.

The tensions at this critical juncture were apparent in weekend briefing against Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, in a Sunday newspaper.

Outside government, business groups plead for the freedom to produce goods, while trade unions warn their members will not work unless protected from risk.  Beyond England, the Scots and Welsh have different R numbers and priorities – and have leaders who are keen to assert their independence of Westminster.

For the public, the result is a more nuanced set of rules that may take a while to get used to – just as the original lockdown did. The hope at No 10 is that common sense and community solidarity will prevail.



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