Green light for 'Covid-secure' English retail units to reopen by June 15

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has led the Downing Street briefing to announce the reopening of all non-essential retail outlets by the middle of June.

The significant announcement means that England will emerge from the lockdown before the other three nations of the UK and is likely to increase the pressure on devolved administrations to follow suit.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has already said she would not respond to such pressure but the clamour to get the economy running again does make it likely that others will be calling on her to push ahead.

Mr Johnson insisted that he development could take place “in a safe way that does not risk causing a second wave of the virus.”

The Prime Minister also refused to be further drawn on the situation regarding his top aide Dominic Cummings’ long media conference where he refused to apologise or resign amid ongoing pressure for Mr Johnson to fire him after he broke the lockdown.

Instead Mr Johnson referred reporters to Mr Cummings and said these were questions for him to answer.

He said: “Today I want to give the retail sector notice of our intentions to reopen shops so they can get ready, so I can announce that it is our intention to outdoor markets to reopen from June 1, subject to all premises being made Covid-secure as well as car showrooms which often have significant amounts of outdoor space and where it is generally easier to apply social distancing.

“Then from June 15, we intend to allow all other non-essential retail, ranging from department stores to small independent shops to reopen. Again this change will be contingent upon success on the five tests and will only be permitted to those retail premises which are Covid-secure.

“Today, we are publishing new guidance for the retail sector detailing the measures they should take to meet the necessary social distancing and hygiene standards. Shops now have the time to implement this guidance before they reopen, this will ensure that there can be no doubt about what steps they should take.

“While the vast majority of businesses will want to do everything possible to protect their staff and customers, I should add that we will have the power that we need to enforce compliance where that is required.

“I want people to be confident that they can shop safely provided they follow the social distancing for all premises. The food retail sector has already responded fantastically well allowing supermarkets to be kept open in a safe way and we shall learn lessons from that experience as we allow other retail to open.

“These are careful but deliberate steps on the road to rebuilding our country and we can only take these steps thanks to what we have so far achieved together. We will only be successful, you only be successful or remember the basics so wash your hands, keep social distance and if you have symptoms and get a test.”

The Prime Minister also confirmed that 3,532,634 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in the UK but just 73,726 took place yesterday, continuing the haphazard record of trying to match the 100,000 target.

Another 1625 cases of the virus were discovered in the last 24 hours leaving 8834 people are in hospital with Covid-19 across the UK – that is down 12 per cent from 10,092 this time last week.

Of those who tested positive for coronavirus across all settings 36,914 have now died – that an increase of 121 fatalities since yesterday.

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