High street to reopen as UK edges back to normality
Department stores and independent shops to be back in business from June 15
Charles Hymas
Gordon Rayner
HIGH STREET shops and shopping centres are to reopen on June 15 in the biggest easing of the lockdown yet, Boris Johnson announced last night.
Shops will be given permission to open, provided they adhere to rules such as providing hand sanitiser, implementing a 72-hour quarantine for returned goods, and ensuring customers can stay two metres apart.
The Prime Minister made the announcement last night as he said he wanted to put the retail sector “on notice” that shops could reopen as long as the Government’s five tests for lifting lockdown measures were met, including a continued reduction in the rate of infection.
Outdoor markets and car showrooms will be able to open from Monday. The Cabinet has also discussed a further easing of social distancing which could mean families being reunited at the end of June as long as they stay outdoors and obey certain rules.
However, there is still no reopening date for pubs, restaurants and hair salons, and none is expected before July.
Mr Johnson has come under pressure from within his own party, as well as from businesses, to hasten the easing of lockdown so that the economy can start to recover from what the Chancellor has warned will be one of the deepest recessions in history. With the daily death total continuing to slow,
Mr Johnson told Cabinet ministers yesterday that the country was on track to come out of many more lockdown measures by the end of June, though social distancing must still be maintained in all circumstances.
The Prime Minister said: “From June 15, we intend to allow all non-essential retail, ranging from department stores to small, independent shops, to reopen. The food retail sector has already responded fantastically well, enabling supermarkets to be kept open in a safe way – and we will learn lessons from that experience as we allow other retail to open. These are careful but deliberate steps on the road to rebuilding our country.”
The Prime Minister said outdoor markets and car showrooms would be the first to open, no earlier than Monday, provided they had social distancing measures in place. This will be followed two weeks later by all other non-essential retail, including shops selling clothes, shoes, toys, furniture, books, and electronics, together with tailors, auction houses, photography studios, and indoor markets.
The Cabinet also discussed proposals yesterday to relax social distancing rules by the end of next month, enabling families to meet outdoors for gatherings such as garden parties, picnics and barbecues.
Mr Johnson said he would publish new safety guidance to give stores three weeks to introduce measures to protect customers. The new guidance will be enforced by local councils, with jail sentences of up to two years for persistent breaches and fines.
“I want people to be confident that they can shop safely provided they follow social distancing rules at all premises,” Mr Johnson said.
Other safety measures included protective coverings for large items that can be touched by the public, such as beds or sofas. Any objects and surfaces that are touched regularly will have to be frequently cleaned, including selfcheckouts, trolleys, coffee machines and betting terminals.
Stores will also be expected to put safety posters in windows explaining the need for social distancing and the measures they have in place, and operate queuing on pavements and oneway systems in stores.
Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium said she welcomed the announcement.
Mr Johnson also confirmed the “intention” to reopen nurseries, and Year 1 and Year 6 primary school classes from Monday.
The Cummings affair has been an unwelcome distraction from the business of dealing with the grave economic crisis facing the country. With mass unemployment looming and Government assistance to business running into hundreds of billions of pounds, a speedy return to normal activity is essential.
Here there is some good news. The Prime Minister is rightly facing down the teaching unions and pressing ahead with plans to reopen nursery and primary schools in England next week.
It is still likely that hundreds will not go back and many parents remain reluctant to send their children if they do, but a start needs to be made to progress with easing the lockdown.
Parents who continue to resist will be less inclined to do so when they see, as has been the case overseas, that the risk to their children from the virus is negligible – lower, indeed, than it is from other diseases like flu or meningitis.
In addition, Mr Johnson announced that from June 1 outdoor markets and car showrooms can open and from June 15 all non-essential shops, including department stores, in England can reopen. Does that include hairdressers?
Moreover, if outdoor commerce is to be allowed the Government should let cafés, restaurants and bars offer al fresco services, to help them get back on their feet, especially if the glorious weather continues.
Many of these businesses, especially in London, need all the custom they can get because the 14-day quarantine on travellers to the UK will ravage the capital’s tourism.
Mr Johnson’s announcement foreshadowed another review of the lockdown on Thursday, more than two months after the emergency was imposed.
Further measures, including the formation of so-called “bubble” networks of family and friends, allowing contacts to resume, may emerge from this.
We appreciate the Government is determined to avoid any reckless action. But with so many businesses teetering on the brink and millions of jobs at risk, prevarication is even more dangerous.
Above all, confidence is missing and the Government is hoping it can be restored through the roll-out of a comprehensive “world-beating” testing and tracing system which Mr Johnson has said will be up and running by this time next week.
Are we beginning to see light at the end of a very dark tunnel?