Industry condemns Government's reopening Roadmap
Even before the announcement, with leaks reporting the time scale, the Government already faced criticism on the decision. Industry leaders had already backed demands by Tory MPs for lockdown restrictions to be fully lifted by the end of April, at the point when most over-50s are expected to have been vaccinated.
Talking to the Daily Mail, Patrick Dardis, Chief Executive of the Young’s pubs chain, and Tim Martin, Chairman of JD Wetherspoon, both criticised the decisions and the decision-makers.
Mr Dardis said: “It is a ridiculous idea that you can just open up in outside spaces. This is the United Kingdom. Yes, of course, you occasionally get a half-decent spring and a good summer but it is mostly wet and cold.”
It demonstrated, he said, ‘that certain people in government’ have lost touch with the public on this and just do not understand.
“On what basis are they making these rules? It is just laughable – as was the 10pm curfew, as was the nonsense about what a ‘substantial meal’ was. When pubs opened last summer more than £500million was spent [making them COVID-safe]. But there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest that the infection rate grew as a consequence of pubs being open.”
Tim Martin echoed the sentiments. “These decisions are made by ministers with no experience of business, or empathy for business. In my 41 years in business, it’s the least consultative and most authoritarian government I’ve experienced,” he said.
Earlier this month pub groups walked away in frustration from regular business roundtables with Government.
UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls was also quick to react: “The sector is obviously devastated that its reopening will be so far away. From the start of November, the sector will have been closed for nearly 200 days, with just a couple of weeks of heavily restricted trading in December. A major package of financial support is imperative if hospitality is to survive.
“The Prime Minister says that the reopening schedule is driven by data, yet all the data points to hospitality being relatively safe and linked to only a tiny number of cases. Vaccinations and the fall in infection rates has de-risked our reopening even further. Over the past year, the Government has repeatedly miscalculated the risks posed by hospitality.
“This delay in reopening will make the job of survival all the more difficult for businesses only just clinging onto existence. It is much more than just an inconvenience for many employers in our sector, it is another delay that they cannot afford and, for too many, will not be able to survive.”
Enforcing table service, plus the rule of six and a maximum of two households will see businesses trading below sustainable levels, she said, ‘ though it is a relief to see the back of the curfew and substantial meals’.
“The job for the Government now is to make sure that our sector survives this further period of closure intact,” she said, pointing out that according to the latest Government data nearly two-thirds of hospitality businesses will run out of cash before May, before they are allowed to re-open.
“In the immediate term, we need a generous compensation package that goes beyond what was offered in January if we expect businesses to survive, with a commitment to eliminate new costs that are due to hit, such as HMRC tax bills and loan repayments. An extension of the VAT cut and business rates holiday must be confirmed along with a targeted extension of the furlough scheme. We must also have an extension of the rent moratorium, with loan repayments and HMRC debt delayed in order to give businesses some breathing room from the ruinous mountain of debt that has built up for too many. Asking businesses to start paying this money back when they are not even open could be terminal for many.”
