Be fearless Boris, but with common sense

IN politics as in all walks of life, confidence takes time and effort to build, yet it can be lost in a moment. Once lost, it can prove impossible to regain.

Voters may forgive governments for making honest mistakes, especially under pressure. But if error and poor judgment become a habit, they begin to see those in power as incompetent, and faith evaporates.

This Government could be at such a tipping point over its handling of the coronavirus crisis. There’s still time to recover, but it must quickly raise its game.

Some 17million people are now living under ‘local’ lockdown – more than a quarter of the population.

Increasingly, they are demanding to know on what scientific basis it has been imposed, how long it will last and whether it will actually make a difference.

Why is Wolverhampton, with 56 weekly Covid cases per 100,000 population, locked down, when Barrow, with twice that infection rate, is not? In Oldham, after six weeks of lockdown, the infection rate has doubled. So what has it achieved?

And though the dreaded ‘R’ number may be rising, fatalities are still exceptionally low and dwarfed by the number of deaths from influenza and pneumonia.

It’s easy to see why growing numbers of northern MPs and local politicians believe the restrictions – so devastating for local economies – are random and oppressive.

To add to the disquiet, it was admitted yesterday that the statistics used to justify lockdowns are themselves deeply flawed.

Owing to a ‘computer glitch’, previous daily infection numbers had been underestimated, and will have to be overestimated in the coming days to compensate. How on earth can a policy which may cost thousands of jobs be justified by such ramshackle figures?

This paper has sympathy with Boris Johnson. Infection rates are rising and that is a cause for concern. But with economic catastrophe looming, his responses must be proportionate to the threat.

He must explain in detail why they are needed and Parliament must be fully involved in all major extensions. Curtailing freedom by decree is simply unacceptable.

Mr Johnson said yesterday that to defeat the virus Britain must ‘behave fearlessly, but with common sense’. If he is to retain public confidence – and save the economy – he must do the same.