Mike Buckley on the failures of leadership and ideology which has led to the UK to expect the worst economic Coronavirus damage of any country in the developed world
The Government’s culpability in the needless deaths of tens of thousands of Britons is now beyond doubt. Their failure to lockdown despite ample evidence that it was needed in early March, their faith in herd immunity and failure to protect care homes are just three of the most obvious errors. They are paying the price of lost popularity. Too many are paying with their lives or lost loved ones. Sadly we not yet out of the woods.
Unlike other governments they have failed to recognise that what is best for health is also best for the economy.
There are multiple reasons for their failure. At root is their belief in their own superiority – why follow the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other European governments who were telling the UK to lockdown in early March?
Just as importantly COVID-19 did not fit the script. This was supposed to be the year of Boris Johnson triumphant, Brexit done and levelling up begun – “economic shock and awe” as Rishi Sunak’s first budget was described. Johnson’s libertarian instincts in addition made him loathe to closing pubs and large gatherings.
Catastrophically, the Government’s pandemic preparedness plan envisaged a deadly ‘flu strain, not a coronavirus. The plan naively states that “the Government will encourage those who are well to carry on with their daily lives… The UK Government does not plan to close borders, stop mass gatherings or impose controls on public transport during any pandemic.’”
The Coronavirus Crisis Government Anticipated More than a Million COVID-19 Deaths But Refused to Take Action For Three Weeks
Nafeez Ahmed
They were determined to go their own way until Imperial College’s mid-March report made clear that half a million would die. Even then the lockdown was less stringent than those imposed in France, Spain or Italy.
Debate within Government both before and during lockdown has veered between prioritising health impacts and the needs of the economy. Rightwingers in and out of Government have sought to make out that the lockdown is unnecessary or that the economy should take precedence. They still are.
Both economy and health are the Government’s responsibility. It is only right that they consider the needs of both, but unlike other governments, they have failed to recognise that what is best for health is also best for the economy. Locking down late allowed business to continue trading for a short while longer but at a huge later cost.
If there is a key to managing a pandemic it is preparedness, test and trace. Germany is an exemplar. They already had a network of 400 local health authorities which had been doing contact tracing for other infections for years. In early spring this was repurposed with new staff. They used the lessons and time given from the experiences of China and Italy to ensure that test and trace was working.
Even nations with poor health systems but decisive governments such as Albania proved that quick reactions combined with a strict lockdown can be effective. In the UK we had neither. We are now in the unenviable position of having the worst death rate per capita in the world.