It might well be that a new national lockdown is needed: given the abject failure of government to coordinate and communicate its response & its myopic policy instinct that's not a surprise. But a winter lockdown requires more serious economic & policy support than spring/summer.

So serious a policy measure should not be dribbled out of Downing Street to its favoured press mouthpieces. It needs to be clearly presented in parliament and then to the media in a forum which allows for questioning.

I assume new national lockdown legislation will need to be passed & it can't be made as regulations from the Secretary of State. Given a chunk of the Tory party are increasingly vocal against public health measures, govt may be likely to want opposition votes to defang rebels.

This could be a rare moment of leverage for the opposition to insist on: economic support for all *workers* - not just businesses - affected by a lockdown; debt servicing relief; rental support & suspension of all evictions; perhaps universal extension of winter fuel allowances.

I hope Starmer sees this relatively rare chance for leverage in a parliament in which he is formally weak. Though higher salariat have saved this year, *many* families have exhausted what little they had getting through the last lockdown. They will need more support, not less.

Britain is more than capable of supporting all who need it through this: as is almost always the case, it is its dire government that requires forcing.