IT IS clear that the government strategy to prevent the transmission of Covid-19 is at best not working and at worst seriously compromised by the interests of big business.

It should be of concern to all that there are open and public admissions that this Tory government is ignoring scientists. In the meantime, a new language has been invented to try to convince the public that the government is doing a good job, as ineffective, partial lockdowns in which most public venues remain open are graded into “tiers” — and it would be easier for the public to visit the moon than benefit from “operation moonshot.”

Billions are being wasted on a failing test, track and trace system. Some £12 billion has already been handed over to these companies, some consultants are on over £6,000 a day.

There is no real incentive for these companies to produce an efficient track-and-trace method — but plenty of incentive to extract as much public money as they can.

Mass testing should be a key part of any strategy to prevent transmission of this deadly virus. But when hospital workers can’t get a test it’s difficult even to begin to believe that the government is serious about preventing its transmission.

Track and trace has been handed over to private companies which have promised a “world-class service” but they are offering up a package of inefficiency, confusion and failure that is putting all of us at risk.

Once again the virus is on the upswing and our hospitals are admitting increasing numbers of patients with Covid-19 – and NHS staff themselves are falling ill.

Key workers must already be finding it difficult to understand how it is possible for the government to waste billions of pounds of public money on systems that are failing to protect the population from the virus while they face the health risks and the prospect of being driven even further into poverty.

Once the furlough scheme ends at the end of the month and more businesses either go to the wall, or big businesses get a free hand to make “savings” at the expense of pay, terms and conditions, many will recognise they have been utterly betrayed by the government.

For months, the British public have endured various levels of lockdown while also going into work day in and day out in order to provide essential services in our shops, in our hospitals and in our communities.

Key workers can’t isolate and protect themselves at home, but they are just as concerned as anyone that they will contract Covid-19. People are confused by a complex set of lockdown rules designed to put profit before public health, with the result that public health is on course to deteriorate further — and the quality and quantity of paid work available for working-class people is on the line as well.

This government is failing the mass of the population at all levels. The anger of NHS nurses and health workers who are the ones who will have to deal with the full impact of the virus and who were bypassed in the recent public-sector pay announcement must be understood in this context.

This government has attempted to pose the crisis as either “life or livelihood” but this is a false choice. In fact their methods are damaging the economy, as other countries have managed to control the virus by implementing strict lockdowns while also developing a workable testing system.

What this government has done is represent the interests of corporations and businesses to continue raking in profits during the pandemic at the expense of public health and decent, well-paid jobs for working people.

The people of Manchester were told if that it was necessary for them to go into a Tier 3 lockdown in order to prevent a national lockdown further down the line. It is worth noting that the government has been forced to shift its position following an uproar from the local population who are being railroaded into a Tier-3 lockdown while being denied adequate funding to protect jobs and small businesses.

Johnson and Sunak have been put under enough pressure to take a step back and amend government investment into the jobsupport scheme and offer more grants, but these measures still don’t go far enough to protect workers who are expected to pay 100 per cent of their bills on 66 per cent of their wages.

However, the developments in Manchester show that if the entire movement was united further, more significant gains would be made in this period.

The labour and trade union movement cannot be bystanders, just reacting to everything the government proposes during this period, because the Tories have formulated their own plans to ensure that working people pick up the full tab for this crisis. We need our own strategy and at the centre of this must be a clear rejection of the idea there is some kind of trade-off between health and the economy.

It has been shown elsewhere that effective lockdowns and testing can do much to control the spread of the virus. Full economic support for workers and small businesses should be a vital part of any strategy to mitigate against the worst impact of this virus. It is simply not true that in the fifth richest country in the world there are not the finances to meet the crisis and support those who have been affected by it.

There must be a complete end to all public-service cuts and privatisation, and all outsourced services must be brought back into public ownership.

We must take every opportunity to demand that coronavirus testing is handed over to the public sector: the track-and-trace fiasco has shown beyond doubt that private companies have no interest in delivering safe and effective public-health services.

We must build on both the political and industrial planes to exert maximum leverage to secure demands that protect human life and stop working people plunging into deeper destitution.

In this era of Covid-19 we must find ways to unite in solidarity and take necessary action to increase the pressure on the government.

The task at hand for the labour and trade union movement is an urgent and pressing one, because this Tory government continues to mishandle the pandemic. Lives and livelihoods remain at risk in spite of the recent minor concessions gained.

Helen O’Connor is GMB Southern Region organiser.