Sacha Lord calls for hospitality to reopen alongside non-essential retail
The comments come in response to Dominc Raab’s confirmation that a phased transition out of national lockdown is likely
Sacha Lord, Greater Manchester’s night time economy advisor, has claimed that hospitality “must reopen” alongside non-essential retail as part of a return to the Covid-19 tiered system.
The comment came in response to Dominc Raab’s confirmation on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show that a phased transition out of national lockdown in March is likely to take place.
Raab said: “It won’t be a big bang, if you like, it will be done phased, possibly back through the tiered approach that we had before.
“The aim is by the middle of February to have 88% of those most at risk of dying of coronavirus with their first jab, and by the early spring to have 99%.”
He added: “If we succeed in hitting those targets – we have made good progress so far – we can start to think about the phased transition out of the national lockdown.”
Sacha Lord also called for more transparency on future government decisions that will impact the reopening of the hospitality sector.
Writing on Twitter, he said: “Hospitality must reopen at the same time as non essential retail.
“We must also be given at least two weeks notice, to enable to re-stock, re-order, rota staff etc.”
