WITH so much at stake, Britain cannot ­afford to falter now.

Tomorrow’s reopening of pubs and restaurants indoors should fire the starting gun on a £2billion hospitality boom which will do a power of good for the economy.

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Too many businesses have already gone to the wall.

For the ones lucky enough to survive it is make-or-break time.

We urge Brits to use their common sense with regards to the Indian variant but also to take advantage of the new freedoms.

We must be cautious and not underestimate the risks of the new strain.

But the Government is confident the vaccine will protect us from the mutation and early signs are that it can be kept under control if people take care.

Health Minister Edward Argar says: “All the evidence so far suggests there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that it evades the vaccine.”

There can be no more obvious demonstration of why it is vital for those who can get a jab to do so as soon as possible.

The Government was too slow to shut the door on air traffic from Covid- ravaged India.

But the anti-vaxxers must also take their share of the blame for this strain taking hold.

Meanwhile new figures show the average British family is sitting on a lockdown nest egg of £6,630.

So why not meet your mates and splash some cash in pubs, cafes and cinemas.

We’ve certainly waited long enough for the chance to do so.

Lagging behind

FOREIGN lags under threat of deportation clog up our prisons at huge expense.

They should be banged up in their home countries under long-standing agreements with their governments.

But there are still nearly 2,000 languishing in British jails, costing £100m a year.

Shockingly, the number of Albanian thugs behind bars here has actually gone up — eight years after we signed a deportation deal with that country.

It’s time we saw some action.

Furlough dough woe

RISHI SUNAK’S bold lockdown bailout undoubtedly saved millions of jobs and kept the economy afloat.

But the cost of fraud in his business loan and furlough schemes is eyewatering.

It’s good to see his new task force clawing back some of the money from crooks who tried to rip off Britain.

But it’s a drop in the ocean with the bill at £26billion.

And Rishi won’t find that down the back of the sofa.

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