Boris Johnson Is Urged to Clarify Rules on Masks and Working From Home

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K. government is facing calls to clear up its advice on coronavirus safety measures after ministers were accused of giving conflicting messages about whether people should go back to work and when they should wear face coverings in public.

On Monday Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said Britons should continue to work from home if they can -- which remains the government’s official written guidance. “There’s no doubt that people who can work at home should continue doing that,” Buckland told LBC Radio. But that contradicted the message that Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave on Friday, when he said: “We should now say, go back to work if you can.”

And there was more confusion over the question of whether people should cover their faces. Johnson on Friday suggested the public should wear masks in shops, but on Sunday his senior cabinet colleague Michael Gove said wearing a mask was a matter of “good manners” but should not be made compulsory.

“Many businesses will be confused by hearing one thing from politicians, and seeing another in black-and-white in the official guidance,” British Chambers of Commerce Co-Executive Director Hannah Essex said in a statement. “The message needs to be clear, consistent and transparent to help firms adjust successfully over the coming weeks and months.”

The Confederation of British Industry, the U.K.’s biggest business lobby group, said returning to work “must be done safely”. In an emailed statement, the CBI called for “total clarity so that firms and employees know what to do.”

“Businesses will continue to do everything they can to keep staff and customers safe to build confidence,” the CBI said. “Transparency and collaboration between government, business and unions is key in the coming weeks.”

Johnson’s Dilemma

The muddled messaging reflects the dilemma facing the government as it tries to balance getting the economy moving while ensuring the pandemic doesn’t get out of control again. Johnson’s call for people to get back to their offices comes after a warning that shops and restaurants in the center of towns and cities will struggle to survive if they don’t.

On Monday the prime minister stopped short of ordering workers to go back to their offices. “What I want to see is people now who have been working from home for a long time, now talking to their employers, talking to their place of work about the steps that have been taken and looking to come back to work in a safe way,” he said.

Johnson was asked to set out the position regarding face masks. He told Sky News that the government will be reviewing the guidance and plans to say more on whether wearing face coverings will become mandatory in the next few days. “I do think that in shops it is very important to wear a face covering,” he added.

On Sunday, Rachel Reeves, Gove’s counterpart in the main opposition Labour Party, told BBC TV it would be “sensible” to make it mandatory to wear face masks.

“Some greater clarity from government about that I think would be helpful,” she said. “People want to do the right thing but they want to know what the right thing is.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.