PM should follow Sturgeon’s lead
Nicola Sturgeon is always keen to accentuate Scottish differences for obvious reasons, but the First Minister has stolen a march on the rest of the UK by accelerating the end of the lockdown north of the border. The SNP government wants to show Scotland can make its own decisions and the cynically minded might suggest that the elections in May could account for her unexpected largesse.
Although the rules have been different, in many respects the Scottish and English approaches have varied only at the margins. However, the faster than expected reopening of (alcohol-free) indoor hospitality some three weeks earlier than in England marks something of a departure. “Stay local” rules are being dropped from Friday and people from six different households will be permitted to meet outdoors, with young children not included in the numbers.
Some rules are still stricter in Scotland, where non-essential shops are not reopening until April 26, whereas they are trading once again in England. None the less, Ms Sturgeon appears to be responding to the improved data at her disposal rather than being entirely fixated on dates, even if political considerations may be trumping all others.
Boris Johnson also vowed to be driven by “data not dates” but that was in order to be free to move the roadmap milestones back rather than forward. He is under pressure from scientists worried about mutations to exercise even more caution than he has shown already.
The large and enthusiastic outdoor gatherings that greeted the opening of pub gardens on Monday will have given the lockdowners more ammunition, as will the continuing worries over the side effects of some vaccines.
However, more than half the population has been vaccinated, and the link between the disease and hospitalisations is far less pronounced than it was. The number of fatalities has plummeted and new research suggests the pandemic was less deadly than official figures show. Currently the overall death rate is below the five-year average.
Perhaps the Prime Minister can now consider moving one or two of his dates forward, if only by a week or two. While people may say that is not worth the risk, for the owners of businesses closed for months it affords more opportunity to make up their losses.