The UK Covid-19 Inquiry found that UK Government announcements frequently failed to clarify whether lockdown rules and health measures applied across all four nations or were restricted to England alone. This lack of geographic clarity caused widespread public confusion throughout the pandemic. The UK Covid Inquiry had a section on Clarity of Geographic Scope in Messaging.
Professor Ailsa Henderson, expert witness on devolution and the UK’s response to Covid-19, found only one example, in all the press conferences in 2020 and 2021, of a UK government announcement setting out both the relevant requirements in England and how they varied in the devolved nations. That one example was when Mr Hancock launched the NHS Test and Trace service on 27 May 2020. Prior to this, in the initial months, there was almost no mention of the devolved nations.128 Professor Paul Cairney, expert witness on Scottish Government core decision-making and political governance, also observed that it was often unclear from UK government briefings whether communications regarding ‘Britain’ – which includes England, Scotland and Wales – only referred to England.129 This was compounded by the frequent use of the phrase “this country” in press conferences to refer, variously, to England, Britain or the UK (which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).130 Subsequently, the typical approach observed by Professor Henderson was to outline that the guidance was:
“for England alone but that the devolved administrations would offer their own guidance in due course“.131
So incompetent were the UK Government that Ofcom had to get involved.
The risk of public confusion was such that, on 26 May 2020, the communications services regulator, Ofcom, issued an advisory note requesting that broadcasters take particular care to make listeners and viewers aware of the different approaches being taken in the four nations.132 The onus to clarify announcements should have been on the UK government rather than on broadcasters.
The section concludes with this advice.
In future pandemics, the UK government should take care to set out the geographical application of its announcements specifically and avoid using imprecise language.
Why only in future pandemics? Surely the UK Government should always take care to set out the geographical application of its announcements. English Commonwealth has long campaigned for politicians to Say England when making announcements about England or outlining English policy, so the video of Michael Gove squirming on the hook was viewed with some pleasure.
Matt Hancock, admitted that he used the term ‘this country’ to apply to both England and the UK. We know Matt, we complained about it constantly prior to and during the pandemic.
Boris Johnson told the Inquiry that ‘you can’t blame ministers for talking about this country when that’s common parlance’. When it is suggested that he needs to make clear which country he is referring to, he replies ‘we’re all one country’.
Johnson eventually conceded that he could have outlined whether his announcements were relevant to the UK as a whole or England alone.
The trouble for Johnson is that he is wearing two hats. He was both the UK Prime Minister and the de facto first minister for England. And this problem stems from England not having its own parliament and government.
This is a mess – and it can only be described as a mess – that stems for England and the UK being led by the same people was picked up by Gavin Esler in his book How Britain Ends. It illustrates how confusing it is.
When in March 2020 Boris Johnson addressed the nation – in this case, the entire UK – about coronavirus, he admitted he was concerned about limiting the liberties of people. At one point he said ‘We’re taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, and I understand how people feel about that… To repeat, I know how difficult this is, how it seems to go against the instincts of the British people.’ Interestingly, when Mr Johnson’s words were picked up by the Sun newspaper, they misquoted him in a way that indicated he was (once more) pretending to speak of the United Kingdom and of the British people, but he was actually only speaking for and about England. The Sun report said ‘Mr Johnson said he realised it went against what he called the inalienable right of people “in England” to go to the pub.’ As Fintan O’Toole pointed out in the Irish Times, in the Sun’s version, the freedom to go to the pub was conferred by genetics and history, not on the ‘people of the United Kingdom’ or ‘the British people’, but on ‘people born in England’ It does not apply to Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish people and certainly not to the 9.4 million people living in the UK who were born abroad. It is a particular Anglo-Saxon privilege.’
Now I don’t usually stick up for the Sun but they are in the unfortunate position (as Ofcom pointed out) of having to report on territorially ambiguous language from Westminster politicians who shrink from the word ‘England’. Due to devolution, Johnson only had the power to shut down pubs in England. Perhaps unbeknownst to the Sun, Johnson had on this occasion agreed with the devolved governments a coordinated UK-wide shutdown. So when he said ‘We’re taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom’ the ‘we’ referred to himself, as de facto first minister of England, but also to his de jure counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This was in fact a coordinated announcement but delivered as if he had the sole authority.
During the pandemic it was common for more esteemed outlets (BBC, for example) to report that Matt Hancock or Boris Johnson had said something about English schools, English hospitals or new restrictions in England when, in fact, they never mentioned the word ‘England’ or ‘English’. This continues to this day. A politician will make an announcement about schools or hospitals ‘across the country’ without mentioning England and the BBC report will make it sound as if England was specified. This is because, unlike our politicians, the BBC has strict guidelines on terminology. Our politicians could do worse than to adopt them.
Further reading:
Multinationalism, Constitutional Asymmetry and COVID: UK Responses to the Pandemic
Coronavirus ‘mixed messages’ cause anger and anxiety, say Welsh Labour MPs
English Commonwealth 