Business and political leaders from across the North-west have responded to plans set out by the Prime Minister for how to lift coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
CBI North West Director, Damian Waters, described Boris Johnson’s roadmap as ‘a good starting point’, and welcomed the commitment to remove the uncertainty of possible future shutdowns. However, he also outlined the need for further business support for businesses that may remain closed for over three months. He said:
The Prime Minister’s roadmap offers hope that the country can get back to business in the coming months.
“The roadmap is a good starting point to the hard yards ahead and caution is rightly the watchword. Businesses in the North West back the step-by-step approach to re-opening and an end to damaging stop-start restrictions. And getting children back into the classroom first is as much a priority for business as it is for families across the country.
“We now need to turn this roadmap into genuine economic momentum. The Budget is the second half of this announcement – extending business support in parallel to restrictions will give firms a bridge to the other side. This is particularly needed for sectors who will have to wait for up to three months to re-open and have an anxious 10 days ahead before the Budget.
“Meanwhile businesses are committed to working with government to refresh practical guidance for firms and to fast-track the roll out of tests in workplaces in the months ahead.
“With good news coming every day on the vaccines, the roadmap offers a pragmatic and safe route out of lockdown in England. North West businesses will play their full part in doing so with public health in mind and the confidence to kickstart a recovery.”
The city-region’s Night Time Economy Advisor, Sacha Lord, however, criticised the Prime Minister’s plans for the hospitality sector, arguing that infection data did not justify reopening non-essential indoor retailers but only allowing pubs and restaurants outdoors. He said:
With ‘data not dates’ being touted as the reasoning behind decisions, we see no reason why indoor hospitality cannot reopen at the same time as non-essential retail.
“The hospitality sector has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on ensuring venues are Covid secure and we still have no data to confirm they are a high risk area of transmission. I see no justification for the delay in reopening.”
Sacha Lord also echoed the CBI’s calls for further economic support to be announced in the Chancellor’s upcoming budget, saying:
Asking business owners to wait in limbo to find out if they can financially survive and afford to keep their livelihoods, will be terrifying and have huge implications on mental health and stress and anxiety for owners and their employees.”
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham also called for the roadmap to followed up with further financial support. Mayor Burnham said that he was ‘broadly supportive’ of the government’s roadmap but it could be undone by new highly infective strains taking hold where people are under pressure to ignore the need to self-isolate due to insecure work contracts and low incomes.
In an interview with Sky News he estimated, based on comments made by the Test and Trace service, that as many as 1,000 people in Greater Manchester who are asked to self-isolate will not do so because of the impact doing so would have on their finances.