The Government must make a resolution: do not repeat the mistakes of 2021 in 2022. The year just gone saw some remarkable scientific achievements in the fight against Covid, but momentum was lost, real reform put off and the wrong conclusions drawn. Nannyism has won.

Swollen by regulations and spending, the British state now imposes the highest tax burden in 70 years, and many decisions, unless reversed, will severely restrict our freedoms in the future – and thus recovery.

We begin the new year, said Sajid Javid, with rising cases but, thankfully, a brighter picture in intensive care, allowing us to enjoy some of the lightest restrictions in Europe. Future measures will be an “absolute last resort”, he promised. Yet the dance continues: the Government stops short of an actual lockdown while imposing piecemeal measures that prevent or discourage life from returning to normal.

Today we report that contingency measures are under consideration that would send home entire year groups from school if deemed necessary: an attempt to spare exam years from the worst is welcome, but these plans would still be another disastrous blow to a generation whose education has been put on hold even though they are at a much lower risk from the disease. Masks are also to be made mandatory in classrooms. This is not the last resort, nor “normal”, nor a desirable example of learning to live with a virus.

Then there is the cost of living crisis, which a group of backbenchers sensibly suggests should be alleviated with tax relief. Indeed, it’s a chance, finally, to cash in on Brexit by scrapping VAT on heating bills.

Elements of the crunch are beyond any country’s control, including rising wholesale energy prices, but, as with the pandemic, the UK Government is making policy choices that hurt their own supporters. The dash to carbon net zero, for instance, leaves us dependent on unreliable energy sources while passing the costs of transition onto consumers. Likewise, National Insurance is due to go up, alongside council tax, corporate rates and tax on dividends, and – unavoidably – the energy price cap.

The Government makes noises about being on the side of the consumer/taxpayer, but the direction of travel has been the other way. With Labour joining the call to reduce VAT on heating, we find ourselves retreading the 1990s, when New Labour attempted to outflank the Tories on economics following a disastrous decision by John Major’s government to raise taxes.

Conservatives lose office when they lose touch with their instincts. The decision to avoid a full lockdown over Christmas was closer to Mr Johnson’s famously liberal inclination, yet in this case he had to be encouraged by backbenchers, the resignation of Lord Frost and a confrontation with Cabinet. Thus far it seems to have been the right call, and should revive the ambition of the post-EU “sunlit uplands”.

Let this be the year in which the Mr Johnson starts to get done what he was elected to do: fulfil Brexit, deregulate, lower taxes, expand free trade and raise the standard of living in left-behind Britain with popular capitalism, not ill-conceived grands projets and public sector spending. The pandemic has proved that the NHS and social care sectors are unfit – time to reform them, particularly to create a thriving market in social care.

If any member of the Government lacks optimism, this newspaper, and many of our readers, would be happy to supply some. There are signs of a year of strong economic growth, so long as inflation is tempered – we have had real success in signing trade deals, the country is brimming with talent, and the early brilliance of the vaccine programme shows what can be done when we put our minds to it. There is much cause for confidence; but official doom-and-gloom threatens to undermine it.

The trick is to unleash potential, not stick it in a straitjacket – and allow Britons to get on with rebuilding their lives.