UK lockdown: No pubs or restaurants to reopen until July ‘at very earliest’
Pubs, hair salons and restaurants will not open until 4 July at the “very earliest”, Dominic Raab said today in a warning the UK lockdown is far from over.
While manufacturing and construction workers will begin returning to work today the picture is very different for retailers, the foreign secretary said today.
Raab insisted the change in guidance, issued by the Prime Minister in a pre-recorded broadcast last night, was a “modest” move.
And he warned that while some shops will reopen from 1 June, pubs, restaurants and hairdressers will not be among them.
“From 4 July, at the earliest, we’ll look at other sectors and that will include hospitality. But it will also include personal care and people like hairdressers,” Raab told Sky News’ Kay Burley show.
“Obviously the proximity in those two sectors… is something where we don’t think we’re ready yet, given where we are with the virus.”
Late last month UK pubs told the government they face permanent closure without further support during lockdown.
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) warned thousands of pubs could struggle to survive the UK lockdown without extra financial assistance.
“If pubs are going to be the last to re-open, then it’s only right the government gives extra support to them to help ensure their survival,” the body’s CEO Emma McClarkin said.
And restaurants fear the two-metre social distancing rule will force them to get rid of half their diner capacity.
Meanwhile they are battling landlords for rent reductions and fearing the end of the job retention scheme. The scheme sees government pay 80 per cent of wages for staff on furlough.
The Telegraph reported last night that the furlough scheme could be extended to September.
The government has said that people who cannot work from home may return to work from today. Raab said this guidance mainly concerned the manufacturing and construction sectors.
And he apologised for government plans to impose a two-week quarantine on all visitors to the UK from later this month.
“I’m really sorry for that,” Raab said as Burley suggested this has ruined Brits’ summer holiday plans. “We do understand the sacrifices everyone’s having to make.”
More to follow.