Green shoots being trampled by curbs
ASKED about firms’ worries that a hard Brexit would harm industry, Boris Johnson is infamously reported to have spluttered: ‘F*** business.’
Two years on from the alleged expletiveladen outburst, it is increasingly difficult to dismiss concerns the Prime Minister is doing just that – by hammering another needless nail into commerce’s coffin.
His sharp ratcheting-up of restrictions on our freedoms, which could last six agonising months, risks crippling the entire economy.
The green shoots of recovery, which emerged astonishingly quickly after the darkness of lockdown lifted, are in grave danger of being trampled into the dirt.
Yes, Boris is desperate to avoid a second spike in coronavirus – potentially costing many more lives. That’s understandable. With infections rising sharply, that prospect will weigh heavily on his mind.
In that sense, it’s no surprise that he reimposed controls on our lives. The fewer people who are in physical contact, the less opportunity for the iniquitous disease to sink its claws back into the country.
But it is a devilishly tricky high-wire act. Tighten the shackles too much and the economic and social cost could be even more catastrophic.
By ordering office staff to work from home, a 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants, draconian stipulations on socialising and warning Britons not to book half-term holidays, there is a danger Mr Johnson has got the balance badly wrong.
Firms are already sending out distress signals. Julian Metcalfe, the Pret a Manger founder, has eviscerated No10’s ‘criminal’ semi-shutdown and lambasted Boris for ‘spouting Churchillian nonsense’ while killing the High Street.
If the PM doesn’t tread carefully, the economy will implode. Businesses ruined. Mass unemployment. Spiralling debt and poverty. Homelessness. Mental and physical health problems. All will inflict their own grim ledger of premature death – many times worse than Covid.
Such is the mounting alarm that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written an unprecedented letter warning of the dire ramifications.
Meanwhile, plunging tax receipts coupled with the eye-watering largesse of Rishi Sunak’s jobs and business lifeboats (he will announce more money for the hospitality sector today) will ultimately mean less funding for schools and the NHS – also harming public health.
How on earth will we pay for it all? The country is already creaking under £2trillion of debt. Our children, their children and even children will be saddled with this enormous financial burden.
In thrall to his scientists and a slave to focus groups, has Boris lost all sense of proportion? He clutches at two straws: A vaccine, which has not been invented, and mass testing, which thanks to ministerial incompetence has been botched.
If neither arrive, we’ll be stuck in this vile limbo beyond March. That isn’t feasible, for the economy or our collective well-being.
While the Mail has severe reservations about the new curbs, we reticently accept them and hope they work. A second national lockdown would break Britain irreparably.
In a crisis as bleak as this, Boris must allow Parliament to mull over and vote on any new restrictions. With these emergency Covid laws we must make sure no one thinks we live in a benign dictatorship. MPs are perfectly able to weigh up the complex economic, social and health trade-offs.
And while being mindful of public opinion, Boris must do what is right for the country, not simply what is popular.
Would Margaret Thatcher have heeded an opinion poll at the height of her economic reforms? Thankfully, no. Britain would otherwise still be the Sick Man of Europe.
By showing genuine leadership, we trust and believe he can steer Britain away from a long, cold winter of discontent.