Boris Johnson has today been accused of putting Britain’s working classes in danger by ‘recklessly’ urging them to go back to work before easing the lockdown.
Labour has suggested that workers should ignore the Prime Minister’s advice until the Government publishes full guidance for employers to make workplaces safe for staff to return.
Trains and Tube services were busier today after Mr Johnson said those who can’t work at home should now go into work – most appeared to be in the construction industry heading to building sites in central London.
But office and banking districts such as the City of London and Canary Wharf were largely deserted today.
The Government is already facing bitter rows with transport unions about increasing the number of buses and trains towards normal levels and teaching unions about plans to reopen primary schools from June 1.
Rhondda MP Chris Bryant said: ‘It was crazy for the PM to make his statement on a Sunday evening and expect people to go to work 12 hours later without using public transport. Now we have utter confusion and mixed messages.
‘It’s difficult not to conclude that working class workers are expected to go to work whilst middle class workers work from home. But the ‘new normal’ can’t just be a repeat of the old divide. Surely?’.
The Tube was packed with workers today with Labour claiming that the Government is acting recklessly
A man wearing a protective face mask walks along London Bridge this morning – as confusion reigns over the PM’s statement
Labour MP Chris Bryant has suggested that working class workers are being sent to work when the middle classes can stay safely at home
Lockdown confusion reigned today as Dominic Raab insisted the government is not urging workers to return until Wednesday – despite Boris Johnson suggesting otherwise last night and millions of people taking to roads and rail.
The PM sparked a furious backlash in his crucial TV address to the nation by insisting that he was urging everyone who cannot work from home to go back to their jobs this week. Labour and unions raged that millions of people were being told to resume their duties with just 12 hours’ notice and no health and safety in place to protect from coronavirus.
In a letter to Business Secretary Alok Sharma, shadow business secretary Ed Miliband and shadow employment rights minister Andy McDonald said they were ‘deeply concerned’ about the recommendation that staff unable to work from home should go back to work.
They said: ‘Every worker deserves to work without fear. Without clear rules in place for workplaces, this cannot happen. Ordering a return to work in manufacturing and construction with 12 hours’ notice and no official guidance on how workers can keep safe is irresponsible and wrong.’
They added: ‘The Prime Minister said tonight he wanted workers to avoid public transport and use cars, bicycles or walk to work but did not explain how. What if none of those are viable options?’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Government’s latest strategy is not based on political consensus.
Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir said: ‘What I really wanted, I pushed them on this last week, I said ‘build a consensus around the plan before you deliver the plan’ that’s been delivered this evening.
‘Because I think the public are very scared and anxious about what comes next. They want reassurance.
‘And if they can see political parties, employers, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland all broadly on the same page – that helps with reassurance and confidence.
‘But I’m afraid we’ve arrived tonight without that.
‘Now, you know, that’s a duty them, on all of us, to see whether we can provide that going forward. But that basic consensus that I was arguing for, I don’t think is there tonight.’
Sir Keir Starmer also told Sky News that the Labour Party had pushed the Government to ‘speed up’ its response to the pandemic.
He added: ‘We pushed the Government on lockdown, we pushed them on testing, we pushed them on PPE.
‘Now we pushed and challenged with the purpose, which was to try to get them to speed up.
‘And I said that under my leadership we’re not out to score party political points. So it was to get them to speed up and to ramp up.’
Labour, led by Keir Starmer, has suggested that workers should ignore the Prime Minister’s advice until the Government to publish guidance for employers to make workplaces safe for staff to return
The general secretary of the teachers’ union said the profession has ‘very serious concerns’ about children returning to school on June 1.
Patrick Roach, of NASUWT, told BBC Breakfast: ‘The fact of the matter is the Government has announced a date but hasn’t come forward with a plan about how schools will ensure that they’re safe for pupils and safe for staff to be in from June 1.
‘And the Prime Minister said that it would be madness to risk a second spike in relation to transmission of the virus. Well the profession has got very serious concerns about that announcement of June 1, whether indeed it is possible to achieve it, but also how to achieve that in a way which is safe for pupils and staff.’
He said there is strong evidence schools are lacking personal protective equipment (PPE), adding: ‘If you’re dealing with five and six-year-olds and 11-year-olds, how to ensure stringent social distancing in that context is a big challenge and Government simply haven’t answered that challenge.
‘And finally, just in terms of risk assessments, parents will want to know that schools are going to be hygienic, they’re going to be safe for their children to be in. And we still don’t have any clear standards about what safe cleaning routines would be like within a school context and we need to have that.’