It's clearly needed, IMHO. 50k+ infections a day and we haven't even started paying for Christmas mixing yet let alone new year! Hospital admissions have increased massively and will continue to increase. Something clearly needs to be done now to reduce infection rates and subsequent hospitalisations. Otherwise, in a couple of weeks we're going to be seriously fecked and the knock-on effect on non-covid hospital patients will also be immense. Current formula clearly isn't sufficient. Should've done this BEFORE Christmas. Action rather than the inevitable reaction. May not have been popular but it's not the government's job to be popular. It's to make the tough decisions and take decisive action.
That doesn't mean it doesn't suck.