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Boris Johnson has been accused today of endangering Britain’s working classes by ‘recklessly’ urging them to return to work before easing the blockade.
Labor has suggested that workers should ignore the Prime Minister’s advice until the government publishes a comprehensive guide for employers to make workplaces safe for staff to return.
Trains and tube services were busier today after Johnson said those who can’t work at home should now go to work, most seemed to be in the construction industry heading to construction sites in central London. .
But office and bank districts like the City of London and Canary Wharf were largely deserted today.
The government is already facing bitter disputes with transport unions to increase the number of buses and trains to normal levels and to teach unions about plans to reopen primary schools starting June 1.
Len McCluskey, Unite’s general secretary, said: ‘People cannot go to work safely unless there is safe transportation for them to use. This has not been well thought out and failure to do so puts people who work at risk. ”
Rhondda MP Chris Bryant said: ‘It is It was crazy that the prime minister made his statement on a Sunday night and expected people to go to work 12 hours later without using public transport. Now we have total confusion and mixed messages.
‘It is hard not to conclude that working class workers are expected to go to work while middle class workers work from home. But the ‘new normal’ cannot be just a repetition of the old division. Surely?’.
The subway was packed with workers today, and Labor claims that the government is acting recklessly.
A man in a protective mask walks the London Bridge this morning as confusion reigns over the Prime Minister’s statement.
Labor MP Chris Bryant has suggested that working class workers be sent to work when the middle classes can safely stay home
The closure confusion reigned today when Dominic Raab insisted that the government is not urging workers to return until Wednesday, despite Boris Johnson suggesting otherwise last night and millions of people heading to highways and railways.
The prime minister sparked a backlash in his crucial television address to the nation by insisting that he was urging everyone who cannot work from home to return to work this week. Workers and unions were enraged that millions of people were told to resume their jobs just 12 hours in advance and without health or safety to protect themselves from the 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 I should go back to work from home.
They said: ‘Every worker deserves to work without fear. Without clear rules for workplaces, this cannot happen. Ordering a return to work in manufacturing and construction 12 hours in advance and without official guidance on how workers can stay safe is irresponsible and wrong. ”
They added: ‘The Prime Minister said tonight that 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 options are viable?
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said the latest government strategy is not based on political consensus.
Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir said: “What I really wanted, I pressed them this past week, I said ‘build consensus on the plan before they deliver the plan’ which was delivered this afternoon.
‘Because I think the public is very scared and anxious about what comes next. They want tranquility.
“And if you can see political parties, employers, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland in general on the same page, that helps with ease and confidence.”
‘But I’m afraid we have arrived tonight without it.
‘Now, you know, it is their duty, for all of us, to see if we can provide that in the future. But that basic consensus I was arguing about, I don’t think it’s there tonight.
Sir Keir Starmer also told Sky News that the Labor Party had lobbied the government to “speed up” its response to the pandemic.
He added: ‘We pushed the government in the closure, we pressured them in the tests, we pressured them in the PPE.
‘Now we push and challenge with the purpose, which was to try to speed them up.
‘And I said that under my leadership we are not willing to earn political party points. So it was to make them accelerate and increase. ”
Boris Johnson’s closure plans have fallen into chaos after major gaps appeared before his Commons speech
Labor, led by Keir Starmer, has suggested that workers should ignore the Prime Minister’s advice until the government publishes a guide for employers to make workplaces safe for staff to return.
The M25 in Kent was much busier than normal this morning after the Prime Minister said that those who cannot work from home should go to work today.
Passengers in Canning Town on the busy platform in East London when Mr Johnson was accused of being lazy
The Jubilee line to central London was busy again this morning as more people started going to work
The secretary general of the teachers union said the profession has “very serious concerns” about the children’s return to school on June 1.
NASUWT’s Patrick Roach told BBC Breakfast: “ The fact is that the government has announced a date but has not come up with a plan on how schools will ensure they are safe for students and staff. from June 1.
“And the Prime Minister said it would be folly to risk a second spike regarding transmission of the virus. Well, the profession has very serious concerns about the June 1 announcement, if it is possible to achieve it, but also how to do it in a safe way for students and staff. ”
He said that there is strong evidence that schools lack personal protective equipment (PPE), adding: ‘If it is five and six-year-olds and 11-year-olds, how to ensure strict social distancing in that context is a great challenge and the government has simply not responded to that challenge.
And finally, just in terms of risk assessments, parents will want to know that schools will be sanitary, that they will be safe for their children to be in. And we still don’t have clear standards on what safe cleaning routines would be like in the school context and we need to have that. ”
