Johnson Says U.K. ‘Not Out of the Woods’ With Pubs Set to Open

(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday will tell Britons to act responsibly as the U.K.’s pubs prepare to re-open, warning he’ll act to shutter parts of the economy again if the coronavirus pandemic runs out of control.

Restaurants, hotels, cinemas and hairdressers will also be allowed to open their doors again Saturday after 3 1/2 months of an economic lockdown brought in to contain the outbreak. They’ll join non-essential shops, which were allowed back in June. And in a further easement, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Friday will say that from July 10, people arriving in England from countries including Germany, France, Spain and Italy will no longer have to observe a two-week quarantine.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” Johnson will say at a press conference Friday, according to a statement emailed by his office. “The success of these businesses, the livelihoods of those who rely on them, and ultimately the economic health of the whole country is dependent on every single one of us acting responsibly. We must not let them down.”

Johnson is trying to jump-start the U.K. economy after the pandemic killed more than 43,000 people, pushing the country into what may be the worst recession in three centuries. Earlier this week, the premier brought forward 5 billion pounds ($6.2 billion) of spending, pledging to “build, build, build” in an effort to revive economic activity, and next week, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is due to unveil more measures.

Sunak is focusing on preserving as many jobs as possible so that the economy is in the best place possible to bounce back. His statement next week is likely to steer clear of wide-scale tax cuts and focus instead on a few targeted measures to help preserve jobs. Then in the fall, he’ll outline a bigger package of fiscal stimulus in a budget.

‘Targeted Strategy’

On Friday, Labour Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds will deliver her first major speech in the post, setting out four tests for Sunak’s statement, according to an emailed statement from the party. She’s previously called for an emergency budget rather than Sunak’s planned “summer statement.”

Dodds will say Sunak’s package must create and protect jobs, ensure any economic bounce-back extends across the country and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The chancellor should also pledge not to raise taxes or cut support for low and middle-income people during the recovery, according to Dodds.

She’ll also call on Sunak to extend the government’s furlough program — due to end Oct. 31 — in areas where local lockdowns are needed and in sectors of the economy that are struggling to restart, saying “the reward for months of sacrifice cannot be a redundancy notice.”

“As with the lifting of lockdown, what we have now is an exit without a strategy. Government must abandon its one-size-fits-all wind-down of the Job Protection and self-employed schemes,” Dodds will say. “We need a targeted strategy that acknowledges that workers in struggling sectors cannot and should not be treated the same way as workers in sectors that are already back to full capacity.”

Quarantine Lifted

The government is paying 80% of the wages for 9.3 million private sector jobs at a cost of 25.5 billion pounds under the program, which will begin to taper next month as companies take on more of the costs.

As ministers seek to reboot more of the economy and protect jobs in the tourism industry, Shapps will unveil a list of countries and territories that the government considers safe enough to waive a requirement for arrivals in England to self-isolate, according to a statement from the Department for Transport. The provisions don’t extend to people returning to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which will set their own rules.

“Safety must remain our watch word, and we will not hesitate to move quickly to protect ourselves if infection rates rise in countries we are reconnecting with,” Shapps said in the statement.

With the country emerging from lockdown, the government is still wary of a resurgence in coronavirus cases, and has pledged to deploy a “whack-a-mole” strategy to quash any localized outbreaks by having more targeted lockdowns. The central English city of Leicester was placed under such provisions earlier this week.