Covid restrictions will only work with the support and co-operation of the public.
The measures announced by the Government today risk fracturing that goodwill.
The criteria for deciding which areas are in which tier appear arbitrary and haphazard.
It is not clear, for example, why the whole of Greater Manchester is in Tier 3 but London is in Tier 2 – even though parts of the capital have higher infection rates.
Ministers are also failing to offer adequate support for businesses in Tier 3.
It cannot be right they receive almost the same amount of support as those in Tier 1.
If the Government wants people to adhere to the restrictions, it needs to expand the mass testing programme, increase sick pay and do more to support the hardest-hit sectors.
Above all, it needs to apply the rules fairly and consistently across the whole of England. Public trust is crucial to tackling the virus. This government is in danger of squandering it.
Let’s be clear
Rishi Sunak this week blamed the state of the nation’s finances for the need to freeze the pay of public sector workers.
Yet the Government is happy to spend billions of pounds on contracts with private firms without any proper scrutiny.
Many of these lucrative deals have gone to friends and associates of ministers.
These include a former neighbour of Matt Hancock who won a contract to provide NHS equipment, despite having no previous experience of producing medical supplies.
There’s no suggestion this contract was not above board, but there is no escaping the whiff of cronyism surrounding this government.
Small savings
Shoppers will be hunting for Black Friday bargains but small retailers will miss out on sales because they do not have an online presence.
Why not make the day this lockdown comes to an end a Welcome Wednesday for your neighbourhood shops?
