Don’t kill pubs with ruinously harsh tiers

SO will the Prime Minister follow his Chancellor’s lead in offering our beleaguered nation hope and positivity for the future?

Or will he strangle any prospect of a rapid economic recovery at birth by plunging vast swathes of England – including London – into lockdown by another name?

Today, Boris Johnson announces which areas fall into which tier of restrictions. For many in hospitality, that decision will be the difference between survival and oblivion.

With the capital’s infection rates falling by the day (now at a seven-day average of 187 per 100,000 compared with the national figure of 230) and hospitals with significant spare capacity, there can be no possible justification for placing it into the most punitive Tier Three category.

Tier Two would be bad enough, meaning pubs and bars could only serve members of the same household indoors – and even then only if they were being served a ‘ substantial’ meal. In Tier Three, they would effectively be forced to shut down – driving many to the wall.

Hospitality businesses in London and elsewhere have spent huge amounts of time and money making their premises Covid-secure and the evidence suggests that virus transmission via these establishments is negligible.

Crushing their struggle to survive would not only be a betrayal, it would risk throwing countless thousands of mainly young people out of work and consigning the great British pub, often the heart of its community, to history.

The effectiveness of these heavyhanded lockdowns is highly questionable and they fly in the face of all Mr Johnson’s liberal instincts.

The Mail urges him to follow those instincts today – and avoid inflicting irreparable damage on what is an essential part of our way of life.