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“The death of the office is hugely exaggerated,” said a former government minister, insisting that most people “can’t wait” to get back to work.
Former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said “there is no reason to believe that once the vaccine has arrived and the pandemic has passed, life will not return to normal.”
I was talking to Sky’s Ian King Live the day I construction in HS2, the controversial high-speed railroad, was launched.
Lord Adonis says ‘all the evidence’ is that work will return to normal
Lord Adonis said: “Once COVID-19 it’s over, we have a vaccine and life is back to normal, all the reasons why we needed HS2 – we have a huge shortage of transport capacity between our major cities – that will remain true afterwards and we cannot afford to delay. “
The former Labor Minister added: “Of course there is no one on the railways at the moment because there is a pandemic and we still do not have a vaccine.”
“But there is no reason to believe that once the vaccine arrives and the pandemic ends, life will not return to normal.
“In fact, all the evidence is that it will return to normal.
“If you look at the sectors that are already returning to normal, education and the retail sector, they are behaving as before, and I think the same will happen with the economy in general.
“I think the death of the office is greatly exaggerated.
“Most people are eager to get back to the office, it’s just not safe to do so right now.”
Working from home, although it is recommended during the worst times coronavirus pandemic, now blamed for slowing the economic recovery.
Downtown Retailers they continue to suffer from little footfall as workers stay away from the office, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to encourage people to return to the workplace.
Helen Dickinson, executive director of the British Retail Consortium, said on Friday that “more must be done to encourage people to travel and ensure that public transport is safe.”
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released figures on Thursday showing that the proportion of people working exclusively from home has been slowly declining.
The highest point, between June 11-14, saw 38% of adults working alone from home, but in the last week this had dropped to 20%.
The ONS said: “Over the past two months, the proportion working exclusively from home has followed a steady downward trend.
“In the past week, the proportion of adult workers who commuted to work reached 57%, its highest level since the series began, after rising steadily over the past two months.”
Lord Adonis said: “It is particularly problematic for public transport at the moment because the only thing that spreads the disease is proximity to other people, but once it is resolved, once you have the vaccine, and that can only be a A few months away, life will return to normal and we need this long-term planning for the future, strength and viability of our economy and society, which is what HS2 is all about. “
