Should UK abandon two metre social distancing? Iain Duncan Smith urges Boris Johnson to relax rule to ‘get economy moving’ as Britain is ‘only country in Europe’ using measure
- Iain Duncan Smith said UK is ‘only country in Europe’ using two-metre measure
- The UK is using the two-metre measure while Germany is using 1.5 metres
- It comes after figures today showed claims for benefits soared by 69 per cent
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
A former Conservative Party leader has called on the Prime Minister to reconsider the two-metre social distancing rule to ‘get the economy moving’.
Iain Duncan Smith said the UK is the ‘only country in Europe’ using the measure, with Germany using 1.5 metres and France and Italy using only one metre.
The former Cabinet minister’s call for action on the economy comes after figures today revealed the number of people claiming benefits has soared by a record 856,500 to 2.1million in the first full month of the coronavirus lockdown.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that claims under Universal Credit sky-rocketed by 69 per cent in April, as the country begins easing out of the draconian lockdown measures imposed in late-March.
People sit at a cafe in Milan, Italy. On Monday, Italians enjoyed a day of regained freedoms, including being able to sit down at a cafe or restaurant, shop in retail stores or attend church services such as Mass
The Tory MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that unemployment depends ‘first and foremost (on) how quickly are we able to get the economy moving’?
He said: ‘We need to get that moving as quick as possible and I’ve certainly been arguing that for some weeks now.’
Current government guidance stipulates that you be be two metres apart from anyone not in your household.
But the distance differs from advice given by the World Health Organisation. The guidance on the website says: ‘Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and others. ‘
Sir Iain added ‘we’re the only country certainly in Europe that I know of’ that uses the two-metre rule.
‘I think when it comes to the hospitality sector, I think we do need to look at it very carefully,’ he said.
‘So we do need to look at how they manage that process and give them some flexibility.’
Customers sit at outdoor tables at La Malvarrosa beach in Valencia today, as cafes and restaurants re-open in much of Spain
It comes after yet further dire economic data last week that the economy contracted by 2 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 after plunging 5.8% in March – the largest fall on record – as analysts expect far worse to come.
The first quarter fall was the worst since the end of 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, while the March monthly drop marked a record tumble.
The latest figures – from the Office of National Statistics – show the first direct effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK economy after the country was placed in lockdown to control the spread of the virus.
But with the lockdown only coming into place on March 23, the second quarter will show the full hit on the economy after the UK ground to a standstill.
The shocking figures come just a day after Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the job subsidy scheme until the end of October as he conceded yesterday that the UK is already in recession.
Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), told BBC’s Today programme there could be worse to come in the second quarter.
He said: ‘The Bank of England have put out a scenario saying perhaps there might be a 25% fall in GDP in the second quarter, that would be nine or TEN times the record level of fall we’ve seen.
‘In terms of scale, in terms of speed, this is really, really unprecedented.’