At the end of last week, the Institute wrote two articles looking forward to the end of lockdown and social distancing measures. Rhion, in his article, identified that whilst the Scottish Government’s document on ending the restrictions did not use the term ‘consultation’, it clearly intimated an approach so close to consultation as to be worthy of the term. Meanwhile, in the returning  Week in Parliament, we made a few suggestions as to what the Government should be looking to do in winding down restrictions, and expressed our hope that the dramatic restrictions on civil liberties might shake politicians into taking consultation even more seriously.

It was heartening then on Sunday to see the new leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, publishing an open letter to the PM indicating Labour support for an ‘honest conversation with the public about what new arrangements might look like.’ Praising the Scottish and Welsh Governments for their own documents, Starmer has called upon the government to respect the sacrifices made by the public to make the lockdown work and involve them in the conversation, specifically calling for a commitment for the government to hold ‘talks with teachers, trade unions, businesses, local authorities and other community leaders… about how such an [exit] strategy can be implemented in the best interest of the public’s health, the economy and people’s jobs’. That sounds like a clarion call to consultation and engagement to us.

The PM himself returned to work yesterday after his own coronavirus convalescence, and in his speech in front of Number 10 on Monday morning (published on the Government website) promised that decisions on changes to restrictions would be made with the ‘maximum possible transparency’, and that the Government will be ‘reaching out to build the biggest possible consensus across business, across industry, across all parts of the United Kingdom’.

Given that one of the major criticisms that has been mounted against the government in their handling of this crisis has been the lack of transparency in their decision-making, it was perhaps inevitable that pledges for better communications would be made. The Prime Minister’s absence over the last couple of weeks has somewhat limited the amount of visible progress being made by the government on coronavirus planning, with the daily press conferences very much acquiring the feeling of being little more than a holding pattern. With Johnson back at the helm and presumably keen to demonstrate his leadership, and the pressure on to give people at least a glimpse of the plan, even if it is not associated with specific timings, it will be interesting to see what programme for delivering this promised consensus building is assembled, especially given the pledge to work across party lines, where the two next biggest parties seem to be advocating a more consultative approach.

One thing that must be clear however is that if consultation is undertaken, in whatever form is deemed to be most appropriate, it should be genuine engagement and not just a smokescreen. We might hope that as the Opposition seem keen on this approach, they are willing to take their ‘critical friend’ role seriously and ensure the engagement takes the form of a genuine dialogue being used to inform decisions, rather than as a PR exercise using the ongoing public fear or a second peak to cover for a blanket continuation of the lockdown, without real consideration.