Business group calls for phased easing

STOCKS NEWS 24 – Ministers should immediately set out plans for a “carefully phased” lifting of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, a business group has said.

“This is a time to be bold,” said the British Chambers of Commerce, adding high public spending should continue if needed to restart the economy.

Boris Johnson has said he will outline plans relating to schools, commuting and the workplace in the coming week.

But the PM stressed the UK must not “risk a second spike” in infections.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) network represents tens of thousands of companies, employing almost six million people across the UK.

It said business groups and major employers expect to receive draft guidance from the government on Sunday about the safe return to work when the lockdown eases.

In a letter to Mr Johnson, BCC president Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith said planning and communication of the government’s approach to leaving lockdown “must begin immediately if we are to harness the public health and economic benefits”.

“Fundamental prerequisites to beginning this journey include mass testing and contact tracing,” she writes.

The BCC’s director general Adam Marshall also said that businesses need to be given adequate time to prepare to reopen.

He told BBC Breakfast: “A number of firms need a couple of weeks or possibly even longer in order to prepare to reopen their operations.

“I think they understand that of course public health considerations have to come first and the government may have to make changes to that plan as we go but they need to start seeing some timeframes for reopening and that will give them the confidence to get ready.”