Common sense is important – but the government should demonstrate some if it expects the public to do likewise

Editorial: The reopening of schools is the latest move to suffer from mixed messages from ministers. The public needs clarity about the way forward

Boris Johnson has to make sure the message from government is clear (AFP/Getty)

It is all very well for the prime minister to call for a common-sense approach to reopening the economy, but it would be a good start were his minsters able to demonstrate that quality in their own actions and advice.

There have been a string of examples where government policy during this coronavirus crisis has not passed the “is this common sense?” test. They include the confusion over the quarantine that visitors to this country, including returning residents, will be required to impose on themselves. One day people coming back from France will be excluded from this requirement. Then a few days later that decision is reversed.

Maybe it took a stiff reminder from the European Commission that the UK was still subject to EU laws to have caused this shift, but the plan made little sense anyway. France has suffered an extremely serious outbreak of Covid-19, more serious than, for example, Germany. So why should people from France come in freely and not those from Germany? The probable answer (though no one could possibly say this) is that more Britons have holiday homes in Provence than in Bavaria. That is not a great basis for protecting the nation’s health.