There are concerns the British economy wouldn't survive another Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown. Photo / 123RF
There are concerns the British economy wouldn't survive another Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown. Photo / 123RF
The coronavirus lockdown has been a "disaster for our society" that will cause economic "catastrophe" for hundreds of thousands of people, Lord Hague, the former Tory leader, says today.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph as unemployment figures released today are expected to reveal its unprecedented financial impact, Hague likens lockdown to Dunkirk, describing it as "a heroic operation, but the result of a massive failure".
The former foreign secretary also says the 2m rule should now be scrapped and the "belated" quarantine policy abandoned to save the economy.
He says there can be "no second lockdown" because the consequences of the first have been so dire, including "depression, family breakdown and despair" as well as undetected cancers, social tension, poverty, debt and missed education.
He urges the Government to swallow its pride and take the advice of Tony Blair by introducing mass testing for millions of people a week to avoid the "brutal costs" of shutting the economy again if there is a second peak.
In his column, Lord Hague writes: "We now know that a lockdown is not a temporary blip or a paid holiday, but a disaster for our society. It is increasing inequality, social tension and unaffordable debt. Such a disaster cannot under any circumstances be repeated. There can be no second lockdown."
He adds: "A lockdown is like Dunkirk - a heroic operation in itself but the result of a massive failure. I am not singling out the Government for that, for this has been a failure at multiple levels: a failure by the whole world to prevent the trading of wild animals for consumption; by China to report the initial outbreak openly; by our and many other countries to prepare for this type of pandemic."
He says the lockdown has allowed the UK to learn "crucial lessons" such as the vital importance of mass testing.
He suggests using experience gained in countries such as Denmark, France and Germany to scrap the 2m rule immediately, because "we can now see that it is not necessary to have a 2m separation between people to keep the virus in retreat where it is already at a low level."
By scrapping the rule now, rather than spending "weeks agonising over it", ministers could save "great swathes of our hospitality industry". His comments come amid rising tension in the Conservative Party over the Government's handling of the crisis, with increasing numbers of Tory MPs urging PM Boris Johnson to reduce the distance threshold in favour of alternative precautions such as the greater use of face masks.
There are also growing splits within Government about the direction to take, with Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, the most senior minister to push for a swifter relaxation of lockdown while Dominic Cummings, Johnson's chief adviser, urges caution.
Dominic Cummings, senior aide to Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Office for National Statistics will today release the first official figures showing how much unemployment has risen since the start of the pandemic, which is expected to show a record monthly rise in jobless numbers.
The Resolution Foundation, an economic think-tank, has warned it will be the first of three waves of redundancies to hit the UK, with the second coming at the end of August when employers have to start contributing to the Government's furlough scheme, and the third towards the end of the year when the furlough scheme comes to an end.
Hague urges the Government to "prepare for testing on a truly massive scale" as advocated by Tony Blair's Institute for Global Change, "involving millions of tests every week as people enter the country, arrive at work, attend conferences or just decide to go out". While the cost would run into billions, it would be far cheaper than a new lockdown, he argues.
In March, unemployment stood at 1.29 million, but today's figures will show a sharp increase likely to outstrip the two previous biggest monthly rises in April 2013 and March 2009, both of which saw rises of more than 220,000.
Nye Cominetti, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: "This morning we will get the official data on the scale of Britain's job crisis - with huge increases in unemployment and falls in pay likely. These worrying signs reflect how quickly this crisis has come about, but policymakers should not just assume its affects will soon disappear.
"Further significant job losses will follow as the Job Retention Scheme is gradually phased out.
"A second wave of unemployment from furloughed workers is expected later this year as the Job Retention Scheme is phased out between August and the end of October. Policy will play a big role in determining how big or small that second surge is."
