Tory MPs urge Boris Johnson to ditch ‘blanket’ work from home guidance

Tory MPs today urged Boris Johnson to ditch the Government’s ‘blanket’ work from home guidance to encourage more people to return to their offices. 

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, said some people are ‘anxious to return to work’ while others are ‘happy and productive at home working’. 

But he said the ‘worst reason for staying at home’ would be just to follow current official advice which ‘takes no account of safety’. 

Sir Graham urged Mr Johnson to urgently revise the guidance amid growing fears continued working from home could cause lasting damage to town and city centres. 

Meanwhile, some ministers are said to be pushing for civil servants to lead the way in physically returning to work in order to set an example to the nation. 

A majority of civil servants have worked from home during the coronavirus crisis but Whitehall departments are now drawing up Covid risk assessments to determine how many staff can physically return. 

Last Friday the Prime Minister said he wanted ‘people to go back to work as carefully as possible’ and that they ‘should be going back to work if they can now’. 

However, the Government’s official guidance remains that people should work from home if they are able to, prompting accusations of mixed messages. 

The physical return of workers to town and city centres is viewed as key to the survival hopes of many retail businesses. 

The issue was raised in the House of Commons during PMQs today by Sir Graham who said: ‘Some people are anxious to return to work and some people find that they are actually as happy and productive at home working as they would be at the office. 

‘But does the Prime Minister agree with me that the worst reason for staying at home is to follow blanket Government advice that takes no account of safety? Will he commit to revising that Government advice urgently?’

Mr Johnson replied: ‘As I am sure my honourable friend will see from studying the Government advice, we say very clearly that it is important that business should be carried on and that employers should decide, in consultation with their workers, whether it is safe for those workers to come into work or whether they should continue working from home. 

‘I happen to think that employers in this country have made huge strides in getting work places safe, and that is the message that we should all be conveying.’

Some ministers are thought to believe that the return of thousands of civil servants to Whitehall in the coming weeks would be seen as instructive to the nation that people can now go back to something closer to normal life. 

One official told the Financial Times: ‘In terms of the mood music… some ministers in various departments want more people to come in. 

‘You’re going to see more civil servants coming in in the coming weeks and months.’ 

Asked if Mr Johnson believes it is safe for civil servants to head back to Whitehall, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: ‘What the PM has said for all employers and employees is that they should consult with their workers and decide whether it is safe for workers to come into work and that applies to the Civil Service as well.’

Asked directly if the Government is consulting with civil servants about them coming back, the spokesman said: ‘On the civil service specifically, the majority of civil servants have worked from home during this period in line with the Government guidelines and those who need to come in to do work have continued to do so.

‘If departmental priorities require civil servants to go into the workplace then Covid assessments have been conducted.’