Forget the usual cheers for “Auld Lang Syne”. Instead, it is the Bard’s other great poem that will define the end of this year – with the government’s “best-laid schemes” for a spring revival on the back of mass vaccination in the balance.
Government ministers and officials are engaged in a pre-Christmas scramble to understand the implications of the new variant. Two weeks ago they first received data on a new strain of Covid-19 in the south-east of England. At the key meeting last Friday the Prime Minister, Chancellor and other key figures concluded that tougher restrictions would be needed.
It means the brief interlude of vaccine-inspired optimism has now given way to old frustrations about the government’s handling of the pandemic, as suspicions are raised about the government’s modelling of the new strain, and incoherent communication of new restrictions creates havoc for Christmas plans across the country.
