Is Labour right to blame the delay in lifting lockdown on Boris Johnson?

Keir Starmer says the prime minister acted too slowly (as usual) and is now paying the price, but the reality is more complex, writes John Rentoul

Boris Johnson has postponed ‘freedom day’ by four weeks (Getty Images)

Keir Starmer says Boris Johnson is to blame for the delay to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, because he failed to put India on the red travel list until too late. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told the House of Commons last night that the government could not have been expected to act on evidence that wasn’t available at the time. Who is right?

Inevitably, they both are. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the underrated shadow home secretary, called in January for all international arrivals to be required to quarantine in a hotel. If that had happened, or if it had applied to all countries on the amber list, including India, then fewer cases of the Delta variant would have arrived in the UK.

The spread of the variant would not have been prevented, but it would probably have been delayed by a few weeks, enough to allow many millions more vaccinations.