Johnson weighs tougher measures after England lockdown failures

Boris Johnson on Wednesday confronted the fact that his attempt to control coronavirus through a series of local lockdowns had failed across large parts of England. New restrictions were now inevitable: the only question was how far would they go? Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has led ministerial efforts to forestall tougher lockdown measures, aligning himself with Tory MPs who fear the costs of closing down large sections of the economy cannot be justified. But Mr Sunak is now resigned to new economic restrictions in the English regions and the need for more support for companies struggling to survive the pandemic. He said on Monday that he was ready to deploy the “might of the British state” to further help people through the crisis and on Wednesday one ally of the chancellor said: “We have not ruled out going further.”