Evening Standard comment: How are decisions on lockdown being taken? | Easter fun (at home)

When the Prime Minister announced the lockdown, on March 23, he promised that the measures would be kept “under constant review”. More precisely, he said that “we will look again in three weeks and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to”.

That three-week deadline will be reached on Easter Monday. So what do we know of plans to review the restrictions?

Well, we know that they won’t be lifted — the death rate is still rising alarmingly and testing rates are still too low. We all accept this, even if we wish it wasn’t the case.

We understand why the lockdown is needed. Almost all of us are following the rules. But what we don’t know is how the Government is making the decision to carry on.

“In terms of the review, we’re not at that stage yet,” Dominic Raab said on Tuesday. Government sources suggest the lockdown could continue for another month.

But how is this being assessed? Which factors are being taken into account? Who makes the final decision? It feels more random than precise.

We’re almost certainly a lot less than halfway through this. The restrictions involve previously unimaginable limits on our freedoms, and huge sacrifices. They are doing savage harm to our economy.

Yes, there is an obligation on all of us to comply. In return there is an equally serious obligation on the Government to review the restrictions in an orderly way. This isn’t just what the Prime Minister told us, rightly, would happen and the best way to retain public confidence. It is also the law.

The regulations imposing the lockdown require the Health Secretary to “review the need for restrictions and requirements imposed by these regulations at least once every 21 days”.

The first review must be carried out by April 16 — three weeks after the lockdown became law on March 26.

So will this happen next week? It looks obvious to all of us that the lockdown will have to continue.

No one would expect a review to suddenly decide that opening pubs after Easter was a safe idea, or that schools could return when the holidays end.

Indeed, there is pressure to go the other way: some police chiefs are reported to want clear restrictions on driving long distances, or to enforce rules on exercising more than once a day. But just because it is obvious now doesn’t mean it will always be obvious.

In another three weeks it will hopefully be a much more finely balanced call. If we are to trust the decision then, we will need to trust the process which led to it.

This is the moment to set up a clear and orderly system of re­viewing the restrictions, based on evidence. The outcome should be published next Thursday, April 16.

It’s not just the right way to retain support for continued restrictions. It is also what the law requires and what the Government promised would happen when this awful situation began less than three weeks ago.

Easter fun (at home)

The Easter break is about to begin (you may need a reminder — life in lockdown blends days into each other).

Just to pile on the pain, the forecast is wonderful, but you can’t go out for more than an hour’s exercise. So that trip to Brighton beach or the Lake District will have to wait until Easter 2021, by which time it will probably be raining.

Our advice? Turn instead to the bumper Evening Standard guide to getting active this Easter while staying in.

There’s no need to hold back on the chocolate: you can get Easter eggs delivered, or join a virtual hunt around Wimbledon and Putney Commons. You can see lambs bouncing around farms (Twitter is full of cute pictures) or get cocktails delivered to the door.

We’ve advice on what to cook (green filo pie) and how to get an Easter meal brought to your door if you can’t face turning on the stove. You can find out what to watch, what to read, and how to attend a virtual service. You can pick between Renaissance art at the National Gallery and Mel C in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Enjoy it: an Easter break like you’ve never known before.

Read more

Don't give up: Brits urged to save lives this Easter by staying home