The border issues are again the result of the government doing too little, too late

Editorial: Action should have been taken to reduce human contact irrespective of whether the spike was due to a mutation, to public behaviour or something else

Lorries are facing long queues in Dover (Reuters)

Ministers are no doubt well used to the rhetorical charge that Britain is suffering international isolation because of Brexit, its cuts in international aid – and much else. However, now the “isolation” is becoming rather more literal. 

Some 40 countries have banned travellers from the UK, and European governments have halted goods traffic across the English Channel. There is some deep irony in the way that live British seafood from soon-to-be sovereign waters is being sent back to the ports whence it came. That may be an omen of times to come if the UK is priced out of European markets. And all this is happening before the end of the Brexit transition period.

The blame game might be the last thing on the minds of the lorry drivers cooped up in their cabs somewhere near Dover, but the question of accountability does nonetheless arise. The charge against No 10 is a familiar one – that it did too little too late.