Britain is ‘bouncing back’ into the same old economy

Hopes of a rapid recovery overshadow the fact that the Tories have failed to reinvent the way the UK does business

In some government circles, the excitement before Britain's opening-up and return to something like normality is making ministers giddy.

Grant Shapps says everyone may start booking a foreign holiday now that he is at work revamping last year's colour-coded map of the world. With a traffic-light system of testing and quarantine rules in place, it is likely that nowhere will be out of bounds for Britons to visit. Inside No 10, last year's recession is forgotten and the possibilities during the second half of the year are considered to be almost boundless.

Policies masquerade as strategic when the only consistent thing about them is that they are tactical