Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Boris Johnson wants lockdown eased with ‘maximum caution’

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Friday 08 May 2020 08:11 BST

Raab: 'Any lockdown changes will be modest and incremental'

“Hope remains even in the most difficult of times,” says Dame Vera Lynn. There may be no parties, parades or concerts to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, but there will be plenty of emotional moments – including lone buglers sounding the Last Post from their doorsteps. Those who hoped Monday would see the first steps to “freedom” will have to steel themselves for disappointment. The government is suddenly keen to dampen our expectations, making clear very little about the lockdown will change next week. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus crisis.

Inside the bubble

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for today:

It’s 75 years since VE day, and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will lay a wreath on behalf of the House of Commons at a service in Westminster this morning before a two-minute silence at 11am. Boris Johnson, who will be holding a video call with veterans today, has likened the WWII generation’s fight against a “remorseless enemy” to the “new struggle against the coronavirus”. Meanwhile first minister Mark Drakeford will set out the Welsh government’s plans for the lockdown.

Daily briefing

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES: No 10 has been forced to make clear there will be no significant relaxation of lockdown restrictions next week. It follows yesterday’s over-excited tabloid headlines and briefings about Boris Johnson planning to ditch his “stay home” message. According to The Times unlimited outdoor exercise is imminent, but allowing people to mix with other households has “slipped down the order of priorities”. Dominic Raab told us any changes in the short term will be “modest”, while the PM told cabinet he would proceed with “maximum caution”. Thursday’s front pages clearly irritated Edinburgh and Cardiff. Nicola Sturgeon said it would be “catastrophic” to drop the stay at home message, and made clear Scotland could go “different ways” on the easing strategy. The mood of caution won’t please those in government pushing for firm dates for lifting of restrictions (reportedly known as the “datists”).

R-ING ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION: One of the key reasons for wariness is a troubling rise in the crucial ‘R’ rate of coronavirus transmission. Professor John Edmunds, one of the government’s Sage advisers, said it has risen slightly – from between 0.6 and 0.8 a fortnight ago to between 0.75 and 1 now – driven by the epidemic in care homes. There was also disturbing new analysis on ethnicity from the Office for National Statistics. Black people are nearly twice as likely to die from the coronavirus as white people. Those from Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities were also at between 30 and 80 per cent higher risk of dying from Covid-19 than white Britons. David Lammy, shadow justice secretary, described the figures as “appalling”. London mayor Sadiq Khan said ethnicity should be recorded on all death certificates to get a fuller picture.

AFTER THE CLAPPING ENDS: Keir Starmer said the government was “right” to extend the lockdown until the infection rate is under control. Some lefties may feel the Labour leader has been a little too “constructive” in his criticism of the government, but he did go on the attack during a ‘Call Keir’ Zoom meeting with residents in Glasgow. Starmer said NHS staff and care workers were “underpaid and undervalued” and there would have to be a “reckoning” after the crisis. “We owe them more than a clap on a Thursday.” Starmer was reluctant to back the introduction of an universal basic income, but a two-year pilot study has found it improves mental well-being and has a positive effect on people’s desire to take up jobs. It follows a dire warning from the Bank of England that the UK economy could shrink 14 per cent this year, based on lockdown being eased in June.

GET IN THE RING: US joblessness has soared by another 3.3 million people, bringing the total number of claims since the pandemic hit to 33 million. Donald Trump seemed more concerned with raking over old disputes, accusing Justice Department officials from the Obama era of “treason” as the agency dropped charges against his former adviser Michael Flynn. US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin managed to get into a spat with Guns n’ Roses singer Axl Rose. The front man called the Trump official an “a**hole” after Mnuchin questioned Rose’s patriotism during the crisis: “What have you done for the country lately?” It followed the band’s cover of Live and Let Die blasting out when Donald Trump visited a mask factory on Tuesday.

COLOUR-CODED CRISIS: France will gradually ease its way out of lockdown from 11 May using a traffic light colour scheme. The country is being been split into red, orange and green zones, with tight restrictions on movement remaining in red-zone hotspots like Paris and the north-east. Secondary schools, cafes and restaurants may open from early June in the green zone areas where transmission rates are lower. The Orange zones could change to either colour by the time lockdown measures start being lifted, health minister Olivier Veran said. “If the indicators are not right, we will not unwind the lockdown on 11 May, or we will do it more strictly,” the prime minister Edouard Philippe added.

On the record

“This crisis has exposed who the key workers really are. And there’s going to have to be a reckoning at the end of it.”

Keir Starmer on ‘underpaid and undervalued’ NHS staff and care workers.

From the Twitterati

“Govt now briefing to the press the exact opposite of what they briefed yesterday. Absolute shambles.”

Piers Morgan is amazed by the rhetorical shift in 24 hours...

“If you think today’s gulf between what Johnson-supporting newspapers claimed & what Johnson can actually deliver was big, just wait until Brexit reality bites.”

…while James O’Brien says it won’t be the first time.