Keir Starmer’s exit strategy call risks lives; it’s Project Fear II – GP Taylor

His initial language talked about collaboration and support for the Government, but things began to change in the days that followed.

Sir Keir seemed to hone in on the lack of an exit strategy to the current crisis. There seemed to be a growing demand for Ministers to outline how they would get Britain out of lockdown.

Like a bad case of nettle rash, the usual chorus of politicians have also joined in the exit strategy rant. This is Project Fear part 2 – many of the same people who hated Brexit are now on the back of the PM and pushing for early easing of restrictions.

It would seem that this is fired by the fear that the British economy would rapidly go into freefall and the money markets would crash. With it, a pandemic recession would shrink the economy by 35 per cent and cost two million jobs in the UK alone.

Senior economists believe that any recession would not be longlasting and, as soon as lockdown is lifted, the business sector will quickly heat up and expand.

Demanding an exit strategy now is like Churchill being asked if he will win the war the day after Dunkirk. It is all very well and good for Sir Keir to think that the Government should be open and transparent, but with hundreds of people still dying every day and lockdown being breached by many, now is not the time.

What the British public need to know is why lockdown is so important.

Anyone with an ounce of sense will understand that once the death and infection figures come down there will be a gradual easing of the stay at home policies.

Worryingly, Dominic Raab’s five-point exit plan is heavily focused on the NHS coping with the outbreak and not on the public at large. This traffic light system indicates that the Government is still secretly pursuing the ridiculous and dangerous policy of herd immunity. That is not a way to exit this crisis.

Any exit strategy that has a desire for herd immunity at its core is dangerous and will cost thousands and thousands of lives. Now is the time to be sticking to the lockdown policy and keeping the national resolve to beat this disease.

The scientists advising the Government got it drastically wrong at the beginning of the outbreak and SAGE should not be listened to now. Data from Holland indicates that perhaps only three per cent of the people who contract C-19 may develop any immunity to it. The World Health Organisation has even said that there is a possibility that no one will be immune to the virus.

It is therefore outrageous to think that schools can be opened before September. There is no way any form of social distancing can take place in school classrooms. With little or no PPE, teachers and pupils will be at risk of contracting C-19.

I really do not think the public are bothered about an exit strategy at this time. What they want is to have the Government concentrate on destroying the virus and come up with a workable and safe vaccine.

Figures show that nearly 80 per cent of the population will only come out of lockdown when they feel it is safe to do so. I will certainly not be resuming normal life until I am sure that I will not be infected.

Looking out of my window, it looks as though it is business as usual. People are going to the shops and for walks. Tourists are still turning up to use holiday cottages and middle aged men are still cycling in groups. The Government allowing people to drive to beauty spots and take walks during the lockdown should never have been allowed.

The demand for an exit strategy is firmly based in the minds of politicians who believe this is the biggest flaw in the Government’s approach to the pandemic. It is playing politics with people’s lives and putting pressure on the Government for solely economic reasons. In cold terms, anyone who is pressing to get out of lockdown early is putting money before lives, it is as cold and simple as that.

I firmly believe that any release of lockdown before the proper time would be a national scandal that would put the lives of doctors and nurses at further risk. An exit strategy can only come when the curve of infection and death has fallen significantly.

Now is not the time to give the public false hope of things getting back to normal. After Covid-19 there will be no normal ever again. How can there be?

GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster. 
He lives in Whitby.

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