The easing of lockdown must be driven by hard data – not sunny optimism

Editorial: It remains imperative that any further relaxation of the rules is accompanied by a thorough review of the evidence

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The gradual easing of lockdown continues across the four nations of the United Kingdom. Generally, it is as welcome as it is delayed – a year ago, Boris Johnson suggested lockdown would last for three weeks.

Since then, there have been many other false dawns, as well as postponed weddings and holidays. The return to normal, whatever “normal” now means, will take weeks longer. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England went into the first lockdown together and will emerge from it, more or less, together.

This is largely down to the highly successful rollout of the vaccine, but that rollout is far from complete, and the danger of complacency, particularly among younger citizens, is real.