Hindsight is a wonderful thing and forgive me for applying it.

Nearly two years ago, I and few others in the Commons questioned the wisdom of lockdowns and the basis on which they were ordered.

We were dismissed as anti-vaxxers, Covid-deniers and even lunatics.

Now, a new, ‘meta study’ from the respected Johns Hopkins and Lund Universities, using the biggest dataset available across the world, has concluded that compulsory lockdowns reduced mortality by just 0.2 per cent.

For the first wave in the UK, that equates to 100 deaths, each one a tragedy. Back in March 2020, ‘following the science’ became the mantra.

I recall very clearly that those most at risk were the very elderly and the very sick. Yet, instead of protecting them, and trusting to the common sense of the majority, we were subjected to some of most draconian laws ever passed in peacetime.

As it turns out, these were based on flawed modelling.

None of the catastrophic predictions used to terrorise us came to pass.

Ironically, the average age of a Covid death in 2021 was higher at 83 than the average lifespan. Now, as the country recovers, and the pandemic recedes in our memory, the consequences become starkly clear.

An estimated 740,000 urgent cancer referrals missed; children deprived of education and social interaction; many of the elderly isolated and fearful; mounting national debt; failing businesses; a boom in surgical waiting lists; and soaring mental health problems. To be fair to the Government, the first lockdown was understandable. Fear gripped the world as the disease spread like wildfire.

But, as more was learnt about it, it was clear that shutting us in our homes was not the answer.

And, on that score, never again.