Opinion: ‘We need data to help avoid a wholesale lockdown’

I was very alarmed by the recent revelation that over 15,000 test results had not been passed on to data dashboards for contact tracing.

If we are going to avoid a wholesale lockdown, we need as much data as possible.

Knowing who has the virus and where they are will allow a more targeted approach.

The more data we have, the more targeted we can be, and the more unaffected the country as a whole can be.

When the coronavirus first emerged, we didn’t have such tools to hand, rather than the scalpel, we only had the sledgehammer.

However, the old computing adage applies, “garbage in, garbage out”. If you put in incomplete or bad data, then you cannot possibly make informed decisions. This is not a glitch, nor a “hiccup”, it’s a worry. If indeed the data doesn’t accurately represent what is going on, and we see admissions into hospitals start to spiral, then the only resort will be the sledgehammer once more. Lockdown will then accompany the tricky period of adjustment to a post-Brexit environment.

We are already seeing signs that the high street is beginning to prepare for this eventuality: Cineworld says they are shutting down their theatres for a time. Jobs in retail and hospitality sectors are definitely under threat. The Chancellor says he will provide more help to support “viable” jobs, but who decides what is viable or not? All the businesses that provided jobs prior to the pandemic were technically viable: people were getting paid. Is there some sort of litmus test? And how can you apply any litmus test in an environment filled with so much uncertainty? Indeed, the Chancellor has postponed his budget due to the lack of clarity as to where we are.

Garbage in, garbage out. We appear to be floating on an ill wind, wondering where we are being carried to next. The only policy that appears to be clear is Priti Patel’s commitment to continue to be unwelcoming to foreigners. This is at a time when foreign workers are needed to take a leap of faith to come and work in our agricultural sector and we need them to stay to man our hospitals and other medical facilities.

Garbage out, garbage in. It looks like the government is hoping by shovelling out a mixture of Churchillian rhetoric as well as brazen statements that they will ride out the multiple crises which are of their own doing. People have noticed. Boris Johnson’s stumbling rhetorical flourishes aren’t worthy of a Winston Churchill animatronic dummy voiced by a third-rate actor.

But while they are shovelling this garbage out, it is the public that has to adapt and clean up the mess as best they can.

Things are changing; there is a consistent lead for Keir Starmer in the polls as the preferred Prime Minister. As the scar tissue of cumulative failure becomes ever more evident, no doubt the demand for change will grow louder.

The Labour Group and I will continue to work with the national party to show another way: it is possible to be more rational, targeted, calm and precise. We can do better than what we are doing now. We don’t need any more nonsense, we need action.