The PM is confident in COVID ‘plan A’, but he knows better than to make firm promises

Published

4 years ago

September 14, 2021

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One thing the prime minister and his scientific advisers clearly agree upon is that when it comes to this winter, nothing should be ruled out.

Boris Johnson made a point of explaining the “toolbox” of measures available were varied, and outlined the coronavirus restrictions that could be reintroduced if a “plan B” were needed.

This is perhaps a prime minister who has learned the lessons of last winter and all those COVID-19 U-turns: promises are made to be broken, and plans can always change, but sometimes it’s better not to make them.

The prime minister was certainly hedging his bets.

But even in a more circumspect mode, the prime minister expressed confidence: that “plan B” could be avoided, and that wider lockdowns could be avoided too – so long as the number of people getting double-jabbed continues to go up.

The chief scientific adviser and chief medical officer backed Mr Johnson on the pressing importance of vaccinations, but when it came to his confidence on the ability to avoid reimposing restrictions there was no ringing endorsement.

Instead, Professor Chris Whitty warned against being presumptuous, saying we have not faced a winter with the Delta variant before and those who say they know how it could pan out have not understood the situation.

There was also what appeared to be a veiled warning from Sir Patrick Vallance.

The chief scientific adviser said when it comes to responding to a pandemic, the question for politicians is not just what measures you are willing to take, but when you are willing to take them.

Was that reference to what happened last autumn, when the government chose not to follow the advice of scientific advisers to opt for a two-week “circuit breaker” as a response to a spike in cases?

What followed was waves of regional lockdowns, Christmas restrictions and three months of national lockdown in the new year.

The three men may have stood at the podium side by side, but as we’ve seen before in this pandemic, there appear to be gaps between what Mr Johnson hopes will happen, and what the scientists think will happen.

The difference this time is that the prime minister has given himself more room to manoeuvre.

Politics

Crypto’s path to legitimacy runs through the CARF regulation

Published

1 hour ago

July 5, 2025

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Crypto’s path to legitimacy runs through the CARF regulation

The CARF regulation, which brings crypto under global tax reporting standards akin to traditional finance, marks a crucial turning point.

Politics

Tokenized equity still in regulatory grey zone — Attorneys

Published

1 hour ago

July 5, 2025

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Tokenized equity still in regulatory grey zone — Attorneys

The nascent real-world tokenized assets track prices but do not provide investors the same legal rights as holding the underlying instruments.

Politics

Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Published

7 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”