Recovery will need more reassurance
Britain is inching back towards normality. The Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, announced yesterday that indoor gyms, swimming pools, and sports facilities will be permitted to reopen to the public, rectifying the absurd situation in which, in the middle of a health crisis, many people were denied the opportunity to exercise. In addition, outdoor performances of theatre, music and dance will be allowed to take place, although there is not yet any respite for indoor entertainment venues which are receiving enormous subsidies just to stay shut.
In a victory for our #Whycantiwork campaign and Telegraph journalist Sonia Haria, it is particularly welcome that the high street beauty industry has been given the green light to reopen. Spas and beauticians will have to follow onerous social distancing and hygiene rules. But it was always perverse that hairdressers had been allowed to resume business, while a sector worth £30 billion to the economy and employing hundreds of thousands of people remained shuttered.
That it took so long to rectify this particular inconsistency, however, suggests a wider incoherence in Government policy. This week, the Chancellor announced measures designed to get consumers spending again in the sectors hardest hit by the lockdown measures. It is by now beyond obvious that any meaningful economic recovery will only occur when society is allowed to return to normality and confidence is restored.
Yet the staggered approach ministers have taken to releasing lockdown restrictions has often been confusing and self-defeating. Many businesses cannot return to full capacity so long as schools are closed; until offices fully reopen, local restaurants and cafes will feel the pinch. And it is bizarre that just as the Government is encouraging us to leave the house, the message on public transport remains “stay at home”. Which is it? Are we being encouraged to take calculated risks or to remain hidden indoors?
Britain is moving in the right direction, but it must do so with greater conviction and at an even faster rate: the latest slew of shop closures and lay-offs is a grim reminder of what is at stake. The economy needs to operate at full tilt once again. But for that to happen, the public has to hear an unambiguous declaration from ministers that it is safe to go out.