Labour calls for reimposition of work from home advice on freedom day
Labour has today called for the government’s work from home advice to be brought back and for face masks to be mandatory just hours 12 hours after Covid restrictions were shed en masse in England.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Boris Johnson’s government needs to “think again on their reckless plan” to leave Covid precautions up to personal responsibility.
Starmer also called for new government restrictions on how well businesses are ventilated, however he does not advocate for a return to social distancing or for nightclubs to close again.
“The government urgently needs to change course, drop plans to lift all restrictions and rebuild public faith in the isolation system they have undermined at the same time,” Starmer said.
“We will always support jobs and livelihoods but Johnson’s recklessness risks plunging us back into restrictions again.
“Freedom day is just the latest in a long list of slogans not backed up by policy. This will not be freedom day for the 100,00 per day catching Covid, and the millions more being asked to isolate.”
The Prime Minister urged caution last night as Covid restrictions were almost entirely binned, despite Covid cases numbers reaching 50,000 a day.
Estimates show this figure could hit 100,000 or more by the peak of this current wave.
The government argues that the large number of Brits who have received two vaccines – more than two-thirds of the adult population – will stop the NHS from being overwhelmed even as cases surge.
Asked what an acceptable level of Covid deaths will be vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC: “In a bad bad season flu can sadly take the lives of 20,000-plus people, which is why I am focused very much on boosting the flu [vaccine] uptake. We have to be incredibly careful and cautious.”