PM’s illogical threats as he clings to power

THE new coronavirus restrictions are classic Boris – wrong, stupid and late. They show just how confused he and his government are, backtracking on the return to work policy because of a long-predicted increase in cases nowhere near the levels of March.

The evidence for them is limited and the chances of Covid-19 going home at 10pm non-existent.

The rules should have been clear and consistent from the start. Then, just as now, we needed to shield the vulnerable, let the masses go to school and work, and protect hospitals and care homes. The billions he wasted on testing that failed, trains that are empty and jobs that disappeared anyway should have been devoted to folding private care homes into the protection of the NHS, and decent selfisolation payments.

Now, he should be helping every home and business sort out the ventilation they’ll rely on in winter and which we know spreads the virus. Instead, he’s threatening bankruptcy, neighbourhood snitches and troops on the streets. The instructions are illogical, delivered by charlatans who lost their credibility on the way to Barnard Castle.

Britain was a perfect storm for coronavirus, with existing health crises in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and the care system. Those problems were worsened by a decade of Tory misrule. His only hope of clinging on to power is to terrify a country that loved him last year and despairs of him this.

Shield the vulnerable and let the masses go to work