The Guardian view on UK Covid 19 coordination work together, save lives Editorial
almost 4 years in The guardian
The four-nations approach works better than countries taking different paths. It is time to rebuild a collective approach to fighting the virus
Coronavirus – latest updates
See all our coronavirus coverage
A week ago, 27 million viewers watched as Boris Johnson signalled the first steps out of the Covid-19 lockdown. The aim of providing a route out of lockdown was a reasonable one. But the strategy and execution were badly mishandled and confused. The botched broadcast fractured a valuable existing consensus. At a stroke, a unified UK-wide approach was cast aside. A week ago, Mr Johnson became in effect the leader not of the United Kingdom but of England alone.
Mr Johnson’s announcements were not followed by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations. Instead they chose to stick to the lockdown. This division among the partner nations was avoidable. It is also unhelpful to their citizens as a whole. The error was Mr Johnson’s. He needs to focus urgently on restoring a common approach across the four nations that avoids what the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, has called a London-centric approach. There are, of course, underlying political tensions in the four-nation relationship, and within each nation too, but they had not disrupted the fight against the virus until last week. Continue reading...
Who is popular today?
