Government needs to trust the public

Monday marks the shift to a new stage in the coronavirus crisis, with the easing of further lockdown restrictions. Yesterday, the Chancellor painted a picture of morning in Great Britain: windows thrown open, offices back to life, factories that start to “hum with activity”.

In practice, not all pupils will go back to school next week, many businesses will remain shut and if we do want to meet friends and family, it must be done outdoors: no more than six of us and always at a distance of two metres. The more Britain opens up, the more arbitrary these rules will seem, and it is hard to imagine that people will wait an entire weekend to explore them. Despite the protestations of ministers, if the weather is good, the public is unlikely to be discouraged from flocking to the beach or the countryside.

Some Britons have apparently said: “If Dominic Cummings can flout the rules, so can I.” The logic to that does not bear scrutiny, but the story did break at a psychological turning point in the pandemic, when fear turned to reflection and people began to assess what they have been doing and why – and asking, is it sustainable?

The truth is that there has never been an alternative to vigilance. We do not have a vaccine. Britain’s test-and-trace regime is not yet firing on all cylinders. South Korea, which was heralded for its tracing and its low rate of deaths, has just had to close its schools again due to a sudden increase in infections. Even the best prepared and wellorganised nations live on tenterhooks.

That is why as of next week, Britain will be “running free” – but on a leash. Yet as we take these first tentative steps back to normality, the Government should trust in the common sense of the British people. As we wrote yesterday, the two-metre rule should be reconsidered urgently. A hairdresser remains shut yet a dentist can open, and while dental work is more vital than a shampoo and rinse, it is also more intimate and open to risk – risks that individuals should be trusted to use their judgment to mitigate. A strange discrimination against certain businesses has emerged: a café, even with outdoor seating, is closed, even though it is perfectly capable of managing who sits where and how close.

It is highly likely, of course, that many such small businesses simply will not reopen. Having just got through the stress of the lockdown, we will now have to deal with the shocks of freedom. We return to a world that has probably changed more dramatically than we realised.

Freezing the country was a challenge; thawing it out will be just as hard. The Chancellor’s moves yesterday were appropriate, continuing to offer support to employees while asking employers, in the autumn, to increase their contributions. Taxpayers cannot pick up the furlough wage bill indefinitely, and employees need to be encouraged to return to work. It is also positive to see that the support scheme for the self-employed will enjoy a second phase.

But we still await a comprehensive plan for triggering the V-shaped economic recovery the country desperately needs, enabling the private sector to grow the nation out of the vast mounds of debt the state has accrued in recent months. That must mean radical action on tax, sensible investments in infrastructure, meaningful deregulation, and a rhetorical shift away from the nanny state and towards encouraging risk.

One giveaway that the context is changing was a question from a member of the public to the Chancellor: what will he do to keep C02 levels as low as they have fallen? It was a sign of democracy coming back to life – just like the Cummings row. People say they want normal: normal is politicians tearing lumps out of each other, while the BBC is accused of bias.

As national unity frays, the Government’s job will only become more difficult as it can no longer rely upon the general goodwill fostered by an apparent emergency. It must appeal instead to reason and common sense, and encourage us to make sensible judgments for ourselves.

Having just got through the stress of lockdown, we will now have to deal with the shocks of freedom