Philip Hammond calls for UK economy to reopen

The former Chancellor Philip Hammond has called the government to ease the lockdown measures and reopen the UK economy.

Hammond told the BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme, “The reality is that we have to start reopening the economy.

“But we have to do it living with Covid.

“We can’t wait until a vaccine is developed, produced in sufficient quantity and rolled out across the population.

“The economy won’t survive that long.”

Peel Hunt has just released the results of its COVID-19 survey of investors, corporate managers and other UK finance professions (banking/legal/accounting), revealing the City’s views on what shape the recovery will take, how investor habits and priorities will change post lockdown, and the outlook for corporates in a post-COVID market.

Majority (79%) of respondents have a strong view that the lockdown is likely to return, implying a rocky road to economic recovery.