Does PM really want to be Santa one minute, then Scrooge the next?
HE has repeatedly promised the public as “normal” a Christmas as possible as a reward for good behaviour during the second lockdown.
Yet again Boris Johnson is caught between scaremongering scientists and Tory MPS desperate to save the country from economic armageddon.
It certainly doesn’t help that the Prime Minister’s coronavirus “Quad” remains deeply divided on what comes after Dec 2. Sources close to Rishi
Sunak describe him as “on his own” in wanting to reopen as much of the economy as possible in a bid not just to save the traditional family Christmas, but the commercial one, too.
The Chancellor has been at pains to point out that transmission rates are very low in non-essential shops that are as Covid-secure as possible.
“Rishi hasn’t changed his position on this since July when he said we need to live with the virus and without fear,” said one Treasury insider.
“It’s easy to say ‘Keep on shutting down’, but that’s simply not sustainable from an economic point of view.”
Hence why Treasury chiefs are said to be so put out that Mr Johnson is planning to announce the next stages of the lockdown before Mr Rishi delivers his Comprehensive Spending Review on Wednesday.
As one well-placed source put it: “It seems odd not to want to wait for the economic impact of the measures before deciding what the next measures should be.”
On the other side of the “Quad” divide are Matt Hancock and Michael Gove. Although both are said to be “fully supportive of the lockdown ending” next month, they don’t appear to support Mr Sunak’s desire to lift lockdown for life, rather than just for
Christmas. While a source close to Mr Gove dismissed reports he was trying “to rein everything in”, saying: “Nobody within government wants to see families not able to see each other at Christmas”, the “dovish” pair seem comfortable returning to a regional system where no one is in Tier 1.
It comes after Sage insisted that Tier 1 had very little impact in bringing the infection rates down while Tier 2 only had a mixed impact. Leaving England in a minimum Tier 2, however, would mean pubs and restaurants closing at 10pm and no indoor social gatherings (in Tier 3, all social gatherings are banned, indoors or out, other than in public spaces – and people are not allowed to travel out of the area).
Regardless of any Christmas reprieve – with a five-day break under consideration – a return to a Tier 2 minimum threatens to severely restrict hospitality trade in what should be the busiest time of the year.
Tory MPS have already registered their displeasure at any plan that keeps such strict rules in place.
Mark Harper, chairman of the 70-strong Covid Recovery Group of MPS, said: “The country needs a different and enduring strategy for living with the virus that lasts beyond Christmas. We cannot keep living under a cycle of lockdowns and restrictions that expect people to be grateful for being let out to enjoy the festive season, only to have strict restrictions imposed on them afterwards that cause them health problems and destroy livelihoods.”
The latest intervention by Public Health England, warning that every day of easing would require “five days of tighter” restrictions has also piled unexpected pressure on the PM as he decides what to do next. Again stuck between a rock and a hard place, it seems Mr Johnson may have no choice but to give to the public with one hand and take away with the other.