It looks like HMG's balancing act in the next few months will become increasingly fraught. Clearly the infection rate is falling fast, with most surveys giving an R rate of about 0.6 (REACT is saying 0.9 but it's methodology tends to lagging the real world), and the number of cases and hospital admissions falling sharply. They are keeping up the fear part of the messaging, desperately keen that people don't start treating the vaccinated, and partially vaccinated, as immune. Hence the drip feed of carrots. I'm really not sure that they will be able to suppress people until mid March, let alone May.

They only really have the manpower to stop movement at the border and I wonder if Pritti's tough talk is a recognition of that fact.