• DURING the Brexit debate much was made of the importance of British sovereignty: the need for us to take back control, the belief that the UK was better equipped than other countries to chart its future course and the government knew best how to manage the affairs of its citizens.

The Covid-19 crisis provided an early opportunity for the government to put its mantra to the test and show that the UK could indeed manage without “foreign interference”; it chose to ignore offers for ventilators and personal protective equipment, PPE, from the EU, it disregarded World Health Organisation recomm­endations and advice; it failed to heed the lessons from other countries, in particular those that had experience of dealing with similar outbreaks such as SARS, and it consistently ploughed its own furrow with regards to testing and tracing despite evidence that its strategy was at odds with what other countries had successfully adopted.

The outcome has not been a happy one and the closed mind set, arrogant attitude and blinkered and dogmatic approach demonstrated by this government has sadly cost lives.

It has been a high price to pay and many families have been left devastated as a result!

Sovereignty may be a powerful weapon but it needs to be wielded wisely. In the hands an incompetent government it can be extremely dangerous, as we are now coming to realise!

DOUG CRAWFORD
NW3