How Brexit Britain became “Plague Island”

The Remain-Leave divide has taken a new form during the pandemic but both sides of Brexit may now be uniting in anger at Boris Johnson.

By Anoosh Chakelian

On 16 December the hashtag “Plague Island” began trending on Twitter as fast as Omicron cases were rising and cancellations were pouring in across the UK.

Labelled a “Remainer Hashtag” by the conservative news site Guido Fawkes, it’s the term that has come to be used by “very online” opponents of this government to characterise Britain in the time of Covid-19 – riddled with disease, and with a pandemic response inferior to that of its European neighbours.