Sort the economy out or Covid will ruin us

OF all the major countries in Europe, Britain has been the slowest to get back to work.

Two thirds of our office workers are still working from home, according to investment bank Morgan Stanley.

In Spain – where the coronavirus infection rate is five times higher than the UK’s – only a quarter of white- collar staff are staying away from the office. The French are commuting in their millions, with just one in six working remotely. Across Britain, in stark comparison, the professional classes have settled into a comfortable stasis.

In the deserted streets around their offices, meanwhile, businesses that rely on footfall are collapsing.

More than 130,000 redundancies have already been announced – and this is only the beginning.

When the furlough scheme comes to an end in October, unemployment will soar.

The answer is not to extend this artificial job support – as the Financial Times has bizarrely suggested.

That irresponsible action would only delay the inevitable.

What is needed, rather, is a clear message: It is time to return to the office.

This week the official ‘work from home’ advice was dropped – the perfect opportunity for ministers to shake the country out of its slumber.

But – as so often during this crisis – the Government botched its lines.

Instead of telling us it was safe to return to work, the Prime Minister said it should be at employers’ discretion.

Why the great reluctance? Yes, coronavirus is still with us. But even in June Covid deaths were down to a tenth of those in April and have since fallen further. Fatalities from heart disease, meanwhile, soared 40 per cent as patients avoided A&E.

The risk posed by the virus is falling to manageable levels. If we do not deal with the economy, however, the devastation will be catastrophic.