Johnson: we will not need another national lockdown
In an exclusive interview to mark a year in office, PM likens shutdown to the nuclear deterrent, saying: ‘I certainly don’t want to use it’
BORIS JOHNSON effectively rules out another nationwide lockdown today, stating that the option is now akin to a “nuclear deterrent”.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the Prime Minister says he “certainly” does not want another blanket shutdown, “and nor do I think we will be in that position again”.
The intervention, which appears to put Mr Johnson at odds with his Chief Scientific Adviser, comes after councils were given sweeping powers to impose “lightning” local lockdowns in the event of further Covid-19 outbreaks.
Speaking to this newspaper to mark his first year in office, Mr Johnson also declares that the Government’s “transformative” agenda “will not be knocked off course” by coronavirus.
In a series of major announcements, the Prime Minister:
♦ States that ministers are “looking at” the “odd and perverse” situation of someone being entitled to legal aid despite having their citizenship revoked. No10 is also understood to be considering depriving convicted terrorists of legal aid if they leave the UK to fight with a terror group and try to return;
♦ Reveals that No10 is reviewing the “pricing mechanisms” of university courses, in a move that could see reductions in the cost of science and engineering degrees, with higher fees for some arts subjects;
♦ Says he wants the UK to “excel” in producing its own 5G and state-of-theart broadband technology as Huawei, the Chinese firm, is phased out;
♦ All but rules out new sugar taxes, stating: “On putting up prices of food for people who may not be on high incomes, I’m not instinctively in favour of that”;
♦ Reveals the Government is examining whether the judicial review process goes “too far” after judges allowed Shamima Begum, the jihadi bride, to return to the UK to fight her case;
♦ Suggests he wants more “confidence and belief ” from the Civil Service, saying: “I think the possibility of change really is there.”
Mr Johnson’s decision to effectively rule out a second national lockdown comes after the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK’s fiscal watchdog, warned last week that unemployment could surge to 12 per cent at the end of this year, leaving four million people without jobs, as a result of the pandemic.
Jean Castex, the French prime minister, has ruled out another nationwide shutdown, saying: “We won’t survive, economically and socially, an absolute and generalised lockdown.”
Asked whether he is taking a similar approach, Mr Johnson said: “Yes. I mean, look, 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. 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.”
He told reporters on Friday, it was his “strong and sincere hope” to “allow a more significant return to normality from November, at the earliest, possibly in time for Christmas”.
Councils are being given powers to shut venues such as bars and restaurants to halt local outbreaks without crippling the nation’s economy.
However, hours before the press conference, Sir Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Adviser, floated the idea of another national lockdown, stating: “Come winter, the challenges will be very much greater and there is a risk that this could also need national measures as well.”
After the Court of Appeal ruled that Begum should be allowed to return to the UK to fight the decision to remove her citizenship, Mr Johnson says: “It seems to me to be at least odd and perverse that somebody can be entitled to legal aid when they are not only outside the country, but have had their citizenship deprived for the protection of national security. That, amongst other things, we will be looking at.”
He says the Government is examining “whether there are some ways in which judicial review does indeed go too far or does indeed have perverse consequences that were not perhaps envisaged when the tradition of judicial review began.” This week, Robert
Buckland, the Justice Secretary, is expected to announce a constitution, democracy and rights commission, which the Tories’ manifesto said would ensure judicial reviews were not being “abused to conduct politics by another means or to create needless delays”.
Separately, The Telegraph understands No10 is considering changes to legal aid to prevent taxpayers footing the bill of convicted terrorists who leave the UK to fight for a groups such as Isil, and then attempt to return.
Such a change would not apply to Begum, who joined Isil in Syria aged 15, but had no convictions when she left.
Her lawyer has claimed she was clearly “a groomed individual” and a victim of trafficking. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal ruled she could only get a “fair and effective” appeal against the revoking of her citizenship if she returned to the UK. The Home Office said it would appeal the “very disappointing” ruling and will seek a stay on her return until the appeal is complete.
Meanwhile, Fredrik Jejdling, the head of Ericsson’s networks business, claimed his company could carry out a much speedier removal of Huawei’s existing components in the UK’s 5G network than the Government had suggested was possible.
Last week Mr Johnson banned the purchase of new 5G equipment from the Chinese firm from January and pledged to strip existing kit from the network by 2027. Many Tory MPs want the process speeded up, and on Friday, Mr Jejdling claimed: “I can’t get into any definite timelines, but we have been engaged in a number of swaps historically and it will not take five to seven years. We can do it a lot faster.”
Mr Johnson says: “Let’s start doing some of this stuff ourselves, working with ... like-minded countries, and getting the stuff installed.”
He also says the Government is “looking very much at supporting further education in the same way that governments have supported higher education. That’s one of the ways we will get people through this crisis, investing massively in skills, investing in helping them to get into jobs, investing in apprenticeships, to say nothing of the Kickstarter funds that Rishi announced the other day.”