Lockdowns were a mistake, says Lord Frost
Drop ‘Covid theatre’ such as vaccine passports and mask mandates in favour of science, says ex-minister
‘I didn’t agree with the Plan B measures, masks, jab passports – that’s what forced me out’
‘I would like to see the Government ruling out lockdowns ... We can’t afford it and it doesn’t work’
LORD FROST has accused the Government of “Covid theatre”, as he called on Boris Johnson to scrap mask mandates and warned that the country will look back on lockdowns as a “serious public policy mistake”.
Instead of pursuing “stuff that works,” like antiviral drugs and effective ventilation, the Prime Minister has locked down the country and restricted freedoms unnecessarily, the peer argued, as he called on ministers to rule out any prospect of a new lockdown and to consider a more diverse range of advice when making public health decisions. On The Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast, the former Cabinet Office minister also said the Government’s controversial Net Zero agenda had been “rushed” and that the technology receiving taxpayers’ money “may not be the best way forward”, but was “increasing costs on individuals”.
His opposition to many of the Prime Minister’s most significant policy decisions will buoy Conservative backbenchers who have recently rebelled against Covid measures and environmental policy.
Lord Frost, who rose to prominence as an adviser to Mr Johnson in the Foreign Office before being handed a peerage for his leadership of the UK’S Brexit negotiating team, resigned days before Christmas over concerns about the Government’s “direction of travel”.
He said Covid policy was the main reason for his departure from Cabinet.
“That was the reason I resigned, that’s what took me out of the Government,” he said. “I didn’t agree with the Plan B measures, masks, vaccine passports – that’s what forced me out.”
He said, when the pandemic is viewed in hindsight, that lockdowns will be revealed to be an error.
“I think honestly, people are going to look back at the last couple of years globally and see lockdown as a pretty serious public policy mistake,” he said.
“I would like to see the Government ruling out lockdowns for the future, repealing the legislation, ending them.
“We can’t afford it [and] it doesn’t work. Stop doing Covid theatre – vaccine passports, masks, stuff that doesn’t work – and focus on stuff that does work. Stuff like ventilation, antivirals, proper hospital capacity – that’s what we need to be focussing on.”
Lord Frost’s words will chime with many on the Conservative back benches, who have long argued that ministers have not considered a broad enough range of expert advice on key issues such as masks and vaccines.
“I don’t think it’s about individuals particularly, I think it’s about the way the machinery works [in Downing Street],” he said.
“There haven’t been enough voices challenging the epidemiologists. There hasn’t been enough of a voice of the economy in this, [or] an attempt to get to grips with the trade-offs. I have seen the Prime Minister kind of groping for that information and it not being there, and I think he’s not necessarily being well-served by everybody around him.”
Lord Frost also expressed doubts about the Government’s Net Zero policy agenda, which is designed to ensure the UK is carbon neutral by 2050.
“We are rushing at some of this stuff. We’re bringing in measures that are sort of unnecessary, too soon. Technologies that aren’t ripe, trying to pick winners, trying to subsidise technologies that may not be the best way forward – and that is increasing costs on individuals.”
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