Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Temp checks at Heathrow
Rich List moguls under fire for failing to ‘play their part’
HEATHROW Airport is to launch temperature checks on travellers.
Passengers arriving at Terminal 2 will be screened by thermal-imaging cameras mounted on tripods.
If a high temperature or suspected fever is detected, checking systems will produce a warning signal.
Bosses hope it will replace the need for passengers who arrive in the UK to have to quarantine for 14 days.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-kaye also wants the Government to allow flights between “low risk” countries in order to rebuild the economy.
LABOUR MP Sarah Champion wants key workers paid a coronavirus bonus to keep all their Universal Credit.
Many firms have pledged to reward staff. But under existing rules extra payments result in reduced UC.
The Rotherham MP said: “Bonus payments are the least they deserve.”
The Department of Work and Pensions said it would respond today.
CHIPPIES are returning to business, with some selling record numbers.
The National Federation of Fish Friers said 80% of the UK’S 10,500 fish-and-chip shops are now trading.
Andrew Crook, of the NFFF, said customers can “drive up to the shop safely in their car, pop open their boot and we place the fish supper inside”.
AT least 20 billionaires are among 63 of the country’s richest people who have used the Government’s furlough scheme to pay workers, it was claimed yesterday.
Around 7.5 million people – a quarter of the UK workforce – are being paid 80% of their salary at a cost to taxpayers of £14.5billion per month.
Andy Mcdonald, Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights, said: “It leaves a sour taste in the mouth that people who have very great wealth do not look to their own resources at a time like this. Everyone has to do their bit.”
Five of the country’s 10 richest people own companies that have furloughed workers, according to The Sunday Times, which published its annual Rich List yesterday.
They include brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja – second in the rich list and worth £16bn. They have furloughed some of their 360 employees at Optare, their bus-building company.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, 67, worth £12.15bn and fifth on the list, is co-owner of The Pig hotel chain, which has furloughed most of its staff. He also owns chemical giant Ineos, which has not furloughed any of its 3,000 employees.
Other furlough users in the top 10 are property tycoons David and Simon Reuben, worth £16bn, music and media baron Sir Leonard Blavatnik, worth £15.78bn, and Primark owners the Westons, worth £10.53bn.
Sir Richard Branson, who has a £3.625bn fortune, has put 8,000 Virgin Atlantic staff on furlough.
And Sir Philip Green, worth £930million, has furloughed 14,500 of the 16,000 staff in his Arcadia retail empire. It is also understood that Mike
Ashley, worth £1.949bn and whose Frasers Group has 18,000 employees, has put most of its staff on furlough.
High-profile names like Spurs owners Joe Lewis, worth £3.992bn, and Daniel Levy, worth £329m, and Victoria Beckham, worth £370m, did U-turns on using the scheme after coming under public criticism.
Shadow Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Chi Onwurah called on billionaires like Newcastle United owner Mr Ashley to make a
HUNDREDS of NHS workers have begged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to rule out a public sector pay freeze.
Fears were raised of a fresh Tory assault on incomes after a leaked Treasury report warned of a £337billion Budget deficit unleashed by the disease.
But campaign group 38 contribution themselves. She said: “I think people do not understand how billionaires feel they need the state to help them pay their own staff ’s wages. The scheme is to protect people’s jobs, and we support that.
“But employers should be protecting jobs as well, especially when they are sitting on so much cash and profits.”
Labour MP Darren Jones, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said: “The state is rightly helping businesses and
Degrees has mobilised its supporters to deluge the chancellor with copies of a letter demanding he protect workers’ salaries.
Nearly 21,000, including 912 NHS staff, sent emails last week. 38 Degrees campaigner Mike Matters said: “It’s a slap in the face. We clap for them, now it’s
time to act for them.” Boris Johnson was said to have told Tory MPS last week that “anyone who suggests” freezing public sector pay “can sit on it”.
Last week No10 tried to play down fears. The PM’S press secretary said they were “determined” to support frontline workers.