Financial Times
July 18, 2021 11:00 pm
by Jim Pickard and Alice Hancock in London
Three of Britainâs most senior cabinet ministers â including Prime Minister Boris Johnson â will be self-isolating on Englandâs so-called freedom day on Monday, as the country faces a surge in Covid-19 cases just as it throws off its last pandemic restrictions.
Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak were forced into a humiliating U-turn on Sunday by a backlash over plans to avoid quarantine by taking part in a pilot testing scheme.
Within three hours of revealing their plans on Sunday morning, Sunak and Johnson had completely reversed direction, having drawn a wave of public outrage and condemnation from opposition politicians and business leaders.
The about-face came as food retailers and producers warned of food shortages and price increases as acute staff shortages due to workers isolating begin to put pressure on the supply chain.
Iceland, the supermarket group, said it had been forced to close stores due to a âsharpâ rise in staff absences. Restaurant operators said they were limiting menus because of shortages. Marks and Spencer said it would also have to limit opening hours if staff shortages increased.
A total of 530,126 people were forced to isolate last week after being contacted by authorities, creating big labour shortages in factories, pubs, restaurants and public transport.
Johnson later claimed in a video released on social media that he had only âbrieflyâ considered the idea of taking part in the pilot scheme, which has been running for several weeks.
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour leader, said the U-turn was the latest example of âchaosâ at the heart of the governmentâs approach to the pandemic. âBoris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have been busted yet again for thinking the rules that we are all following donât apply to them,â he said.
âParents, workers and businesses will be wondering what on earth is going on in Downing Street.â
Those taking part in the âworkplace contact testing pilotâ cannot socialise but they can leave their homes to carry out essential activities â including work â if their daily tests are negative and they develop no symptoms.
The scheme applies to workers in 20 public sector organisations including staff at Downing Street, Transport for London and the Border Force. The scheme is not likely to be rolled out to the general public before September at the earliest.
From Monday, frontline NHS and social care staff in England with two jabs who have been asked to self-isolate will be able to keep coming to work. However, they will have to receive a negative PCR test and administer lateral flow tests daily for at least seven days.
Johnson, who will complete his self-isolation at Chequers, also called for âcautionâ and âprudenceâ ahead of Mondayâs reopening although he insisted that it was the right thing to do as cases surged to about 50,000 a day. âIf we donât do it now we have to ask, when will we ever do it?â he said.
Sunak is scheduled to announce the parameters of the autumn spending review this week. The chancellor and the prime minister are also trying to agree a new social care package, funded by higher taxes, before the start of parliamentâs summer recess.
The changes will see the reopening of venues such as nightclubs and theatres and the end of limits on the number of people meeting indoors, as well as an end to legally enforced social distancing and mask-wearing.
Neil Ferguson, director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London, said it was âalmost certainâ that the daily hospitalisation rate would reach 1,000 with 100,000 cases a day in the coming weeks. âThe real question is do we get to double that or even higher . . . 2,000 hospitalisations and 200,000 cases?â he told the BBCâs Andrew Marr Show.
The government is set to exempt the double-jabbed from self-isolation, even if they are contacted by Test and Trace, from August 16 â but business groups have lobbied for that date to be brought forward.
âFar from freedom day being freedom day, itâs going to be disaster day,â said Rod Mackenzie, managing director of policy and public affairs at The Road Haulage Association.
He said the supply chain could face âchaosâ, with the haulage industry already short 100,000 drivers because of other factors such as Brexit. âThe government needs to wake up to this. I cannot underplay how serious this situation is,â he said.
Clive Black, a food retail analyst at Shore Capital, said he expected food price inflation to increase from 0-1 per cent to 2-3 per cent this year.
Covid cases in England are now the third-highest number in the world, behind only Indonesia and Brazil.
Meanwhile, the government will confirm on Monday that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised Covid jabs for only a limited number of under-18s, such as those with underlying health conditions or who live with vulnerable adults.
Additional reporting by Nathalie Thomas in Edinburgh
