Cabinet Office Minister urges people to go back to work

Cabinet Office Minister has urged Britons to not “stay at home” and is urging people to go back to work to fire up the economy.

Michael Gove told Sky News on Sunday that more people should return to work to help the “economic engines of this country are fired up again.”

Gove said that those who can “add value” by being back at the workplace should go back to work which will benefit the “economy.”

Speaking on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Gove said, “We want to see more people back at work, on the shop floor, in the office, wherever they can be.

“Of course in some cases it is appropriate and convenient for people to work from home, but we want to make sure that where people can add value, where the economy can benefit from people being at work, that they are at work.

“We want to make sure that the economic engines of this country are fired up again and that’s why the chancellor made the series of announcements that he made earlier this week in order to make sure that we are in a position to be able to provide people with safety and security at work, to protect their jobs and to guarantee jobs in the future.”

However, Lucy Powell Labour’s Shadow Minister told Ridge, “The summer statement this week was a real missed opportunity, possibly the last opportunity we’ve had to save tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs over the coming months, with some very poorly targeted and badly designed schemes which are just not up to the task of saving all those jobs, especially in some of the key sectors most adversely affected by this crisis.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson also urged people to go back to work if they can, from previously telling people to work from home.

As lockdown restrictions are being eased Johnson has said that people should “try to lead their lives more normally.”

Johnson told the public in an online Q&A session, “I want people to go back to work as carefully as possible. It’s very important that people should be going back to work if they can now.

“I think everybody has sort of taken the ‘stay at home if you can’ – I think we should now say, well, ‘go back to work if you can’. Because I think it’s very important that people should try to lead their lives more normally.

“I want to see more people feeling confident to use the shops, use the restaurants, and get back into work – but only if we all follow the guidance.”