New Covid Restrictions

South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester & Warrington and Cheshire, are the three latest areas in England to enter into a tougher tier of Covid-19 restrictions. They join Lancashire, the North East, Birmingham and the West Midlands, Essex, London, Leicester, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Stoke-on-Trent in areas in England that have been placed in tier 2 or 3 lockdown. Wales has also recently entered into a two-week “firebreak” lockdown, where full lockdown restrictions will apply across the country regardless of local case levels. 

A pattern in restrictions

A pattern has been seen by some political commentators in these regional restrictions; it has been noted that a map of these new restrictions in England resembles the 2019 electoral map, with restrictions being placed on the more Labour-orientated parts of the country than the Tory-held seats. It has been pointed out as a counter that Labour seats are usually in more urban areas where population density is higher, and therefore infection rates for Covid-19 would naturally be higher, necessitating a higher lockdown restriction. Such is the political climate in Britain, accusations such as these are common in Westminster. Frustration over the Conservative government’s handling of the SARS-Cov2 pandemic has raised criticism from local councils and MPs, who say the government’s enthusiasm to place lockdown restrictions on lower-income areas of England has decimated local economies. 

Is the data good enough?

These local lockdown restrictions are enforced based on data collected jointly by the government’s new track-and-trace app (the effectiveness and transparency of which is a matter of contention), and the testing system that is in place across the country. The efficiency of the testing system is also a matter of debate in Westminster. While some areas of the country have experienced great expediency and ease in taking a Coronavirus test, and have received their results promptly, others have not. Areas in the South of the country have experienced long delays in receiving their test results, some taking weeks to arrive, as well as being sent to testing centers up to two-hundred miles away. The high level of reported cases in the Midlands and the North as opposed to the South is attributed to this, as people in the Midlands and North can receive their test quicker than those in the South, leading to more reported cases. This has drawn harsh criticism to the Conservative government’s handling of the testing system, with some members of the opposition accusing the Tories of making it more difficult for Southerners and Londoners to take a test and receive their results, in order that London and the South stay out of harsher lockdown restrictions. 

But has it worked?

Even if the Tories did have any plan resembling what they are being accused of by their political rivals, it hasn’t worked. Since Sir Keir Starmer became Leader of the Opposition, the poll gap between the Conservatives and Labour has shrunk from 51% for the Tories and 29% for Labour in early April when Starmer was appointed, to 40% for the Tories and 39% for Labour as of late October. Honestly, there was never going to be a clean solution for the Covid-19 problem in Britain. Other nations may have been able to avoid it, like New Zealand, others have all but succumbed to the virus, like the United States. Britain’s experience has been somewhere between these two. We have by no means avoided it, but we haven’t mismanaged the situation badly enough to be on any no-fly-lists. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been portrayed as bumbling his way through this pandemic with no clear plan, releasing new and more confusing policy almost every week. The virus is not yet safely under control in the UK, and the economy is strained almost to breaking point as businesses close and spending decreased nationwide. This, combined with the charismatic and clean-cut new leadership style of Starmer bringing some much-needed rejuvenation to the Labour party after the disastrous leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, is making Boris Johnson, and a Conservative government, less and less popular among the British people.

stay safe

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