Britons deserve to be told the truth about lockdown strategy

Editorial: The health secretary seems to believe that merely talking about modest relaxation of the rules will lead to some sort of stampede for the sunny beaches. He should have more faith in the public

Matt Hancock addresses the media in Downing Street this week (PA)

In a series of tetchy media interviews, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, doggedly held to the government’s line that the lockdown must continue for at least three weeks longer. In the meantime, no one in government is prepared to talk openly about the possible routes out of the current system of voluntary house arrest. If there is an exit strategy, no one is admitting to it. That only adds to suspicions that there isn’t one, that ministers don’t know what they’re doing, and cannot make any major decisions, such as on relaxing the lockdown, while Boris Johnson is absent, convalescing indefinitely. That is not a reassuring picture.

Mr Hancock was understandably annoyed about getting constantly interrupted before he had a chance to finish his answers because he takes the current challenge seriously; after all, his political career hangs on it. This is a tense moment. He and the government are on the brink of some rare successes, as, more to the point, is the country as a whole.