PM reluctant to lock down UK in event of new wave
BORIS Johnson has played down the prospect of a second national coronavirus lockdown, saying he did not want to use it any more than Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent.
The Prime Minister said the authorities were getting better at identifying and isolating local outbreaks, although it was important that the power to order national action was held in reserve.
“I can’t abandon that tool any more than I would abandon a nuclear deterrent. But it is like a nuclear deterrent, I certainly don’t want to use it. And nor do I think we will be in that position again,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
His comments could lead to further tensions between ministers and their scientific experts after the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned on Friday there was “a risk” that national measures could be needed as winter approaches.
Announcing another easing lockdown restrictions in England, Mr Johnson on Friday said he hoped there could be a “significant return to normality” in time for Christmas.
At the same time, he said the Government had given local authorities new powers to close specific premises, shut outdoor spaces and cancel events.
Mr Johnson told the Telegraph: “It’s not just that we’re getting much better at spotting the disease and isolating it locally, but we understand far more which groups it affects, how it works, how it’s transmitted, so the possibility of different types of segmentation, of enhanced shielding for particular groups, is now there.
“We’re genuinely able now to look at what’s happening in much closer to real time, to isolate outbreaks and to address them on the spot, and to work with local authorities to contain the problem locally and regionally if we have to.”
As he approaches his first anniversary in office, Mr Johnson insisted his agenda for domestic reform and “levelling up” the economy would not be blown off course by the pandemic.
“We want to be a transformative Government, because there’s a massive opportunity in this country to do things differently and to do things better,” he said.
“We’ve seen that really exemplified in what happened with coronavirus.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the UK will ensure the world knows the nature of the “reprehensible behaviour” that Russia is engaged in. It follows accusations that Russia’s intelligence services tried to steal details of research into coronavirus vaccines.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin rejected the claims and said there was “no sense” in the allegations made by Britain, the US and Canada.
Speaking on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr Raab said it was “outrageous and reprehensible” that the Russian government is engaged in such activity.
He said: “We’re absolutely confident that the Russian intelligence agencies were engaged in a cyber attack on research and development efforts and organisations in this country and internationally with a view either to sabotage or to profit from the R&D that was taking place.
“And I think the point is, first of all we’ve seen this as part of a wider systematic approach to cyber taken by Russia, and at the time that the world is coming together to try and tackle Covid-19, particularly come up with a global solution for a vaccine, I think it’s outrageous and reprehensible that the Russian government is engaged in this activity.
“So what we’re doing with our allies is making sure people know, making sure the organisations know so that they can better defend against it, but also just calling Russia out, we will do this.
“Now you will see us holding Russia to account and making sure that the world knows the nature of the reprehensible behaviour that they’re engaged in.”