UK plan to lift lockdown shatters political consensus

BORIS Johnson unveiled on Sunday night his much-anticipated roadmap to ease the United Kingdom's lockdown. Yet, while his proposals have been welcomed by some in the business community, they lack clarity and he has fractured the Covid-19 consensus that previously existed politically across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The prime minister's key message is that now is not the time to lift the lockdown in full, and indeed that will not happen for potentially many weeks to come. But he outlined plans for a cautious reopening in England from this week into summer, including telling those millions of workers who cannot do their jobs from home - specifically citing construction and manufacturing - to return to workplaces on Monday while following social distancing rules and avoiding public transport where possible.

While this message has been welcomed by some business leaders, the very short notice given (around 12 hours) before Mr Johnson asked people to report to work on Monday morning has left others aghast. Richard Burge, the chief executive of London Chamber of Commerce, urged businesses not to return to work straight away, saying it would be "foolish" until more explicit guidance from the government in coming days. Trade unions have echoed this, saying that Mr Johnson's instruction that many people go back to work with such short notice is a "recipe for chaos" in the absence of more action to safeguard worker health.