PM should keep quiet and let his scientists speak

COMMENT BY ANDY BURNHAM MAYOR OF GREATER MANCHESTER

AFTER everything we have gone through over the past few months, we have finally arrived at the most dangerous moment of this pandemic.

From tomorrow, the genie will be out of the bottle and it will be very difficult to put it back.

Easing of the lockdown in England comes too soon. First, test and trace will not be fully operational for several weeks. Second, the R number is at or very close to 1.

This explains why scientists have been queuing up to say that the Government’s moves are premature.

And it all comes at the worst possible time. The authority of the Government’s public health message has been weakened by the Dominic Cummings affair. There is a danger the sense of collective discipline is about to be lost.

As schools and shops open, some may feel normality is returning and the danger has passed.

So where do we go from here? At a minimum, we need to empower the public with more information so that they can make their own judgments on the extent to which they make changes.

Ministers should agree to publish the R number for each of the English regions on at least a weekly basis, as they do in Spain. This would help people assess the level of risk in their part of the country and make their own decisions about how cautious to be.

Beyond that, the Government must restore public confidence in its health messaging.

In 2009 during the swine flu pandemic, I realised the statements I made in the Commons often sparked political debate which had the effect of raising concerns among the public rather than reassuring them.

So I left the daily briefings to the then chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson. It was a turning point in the Labour Government’s handling of that crisis.

This Government should do the same. Interventions from ministers are often making things worse.

When the PM prevented his experts from answering a question, I winced. When Michael Gove started to claim he had driven to test his eyesight, he couldn’t finish the sentence. He knew that we knew that he wasn’t being truthful.

It is time for ministers to take a back seat. Scientists should lead the Government’s daily briefing for at least two weeks. Let them speak freely and fearlessly to the nation.

When the PM stopped his experts answering a question, I winced