Gove: Why we must go back to work

OFFICE and factory staff should get back to work to help ‘fire up the country’s economic engines’, Michael Gove said yesterday.

Millions of office staff have been working from home since the lockdown began on the advice of the Government.

But with retailers and hospitality firms haemorrhaging jobs, ministers are anxious to get workers back to their desks to breathe life into town and city centres.

Mr Gove yesterday gave the strongest hint yet that the Government will ditch its advice to work from home if possible, which has been in place since March.

The Cabinet Office Minister told Sky News: ‘We want to see more people back at work, on the shop floor, in the office, wherever they can be.

‘Of course, in some cases it’s appropriate for people to work from home but we want to make sure that where people can add value, where the economy can benefit from people being at work, that they are at work. We want to make sure that the economic engines of this country are fired up again.’

In a further sign of the Government’s desire to get more people back to work, ministers are also looking at changing the advice against using public transport.

And a Whitehall source said it’s ‘costing a great deal of money’ to run services with so few people on them.

The ‘back to work’ push is part of the PM’s vision for returning society to something more like normal. Employers, including the civil service, will be encouraged to get more staff back to work.

The PM is looking to map out a nine-month timetable for reducing social distancing to return to a more normal life. This will be accompanied by a stepping up of the test and trace regime and a growing reliance on local lockdowns.