Strike a balance on health and wealth

THE prospect of another lockdown hangs on the horizon with grim inevitability. Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday warned that the United Kingdom faces a ‘tipping point’ and refuses to rule out a second national curfew.

In Scotland, Jeane Freeman told the BBC that large fines for failing to self-isolate were ‘under discussion’. Her words came as a further 245 cases of Covid-19 were reported north of the Border, for a weekend total of 595. If lockdown is under consideration at Westminster, it is unlikely Holyrood will be far behind. And today the UK Government’s two chief scientists will show us apocalyptic charts and graphs which will be interpreted as Covid lurching out of control.

Of course, only an irresponsible government would ignore health data and wilfully jeopardise its citizens’ safety.

But what will draconian new curbs actually achieve? Even the full lockdown didn’t eradicate coronavirus.

Boris Johnson, once an arch-libertarian, seems to have taken to administering the shackles of authoritarianism a little too enthusiastically.

To many, introducing fines of up to £10,000 for failing to self-isolate, and UK ministerial exhortations to snitch on neighbours, are profoundly troubling.

Ministers must prise themselves from the grip of scientists – who concern themselves only with health issues – and start striking a balance between epidemiology and the country’s economy.

Imposing a blanket lockdown – even temporarily – to tackle a virus that is killing one-tenth the number of people dying from flu and pneumonia would be madness.

It hardly needs saying that obeying the law is a fundamental duty, even when the law in question is exacting or a major inconvenience. It is vital, too, that we get this virus back under control. No one wants to return to the days of large numbers of fatalities and runaway infection rates.

But ministers both north and south of the Border ought to think very carefully about harsh fines and new lockdowns.

The extraordinary restrictions being placed upon our liberties right now rest on public consent. If ministers go too far, they risk damaging that consent – perhaps beyond repair.