Boris’ announcement on Sunday UK

[Bumpandus]

So it’s recently been announced that Boris will be on on Sunday to let us know what the next phase is etc..

What do people think realistically he is gonna allow?

Opinions!! Go...

Oddboots I was just going to post about Rishi Sunak wanting to wind the furlough scheme down. It sounds to me that they want people back to work not to continue further lockdown

The scheme is already in place until June, though. So what they mean is it will continue as planned, but ideally not for much longer than that.

If Nicola Sturgeon's briefing today is anything to go by, she has indicated there will be no easing of restrictions at the upcoming review. I was a bit taken aback. She said that in Scotland they believe R is between 0.7 and 1, but they can't be sure it is not very close to the high end of that, so any easing would be likely to push back into exponential growth.

She said for right now people should tighten up if they have been doing a bit more, and make sure they are following all the guidance which remains as it is.

She indicated that she is very aware of the urgency to ease out of lockdown, and if the evidence indicates they can safely ease measures before the next review (which I think is the 28th) then they will, they won't wait for the review date.

She suggested that measures that may be introduced at that time or after the 28th if considered safe, might be (still being debated) allowing people to go out for exercise more than once a day, possibly limited contact between households which would perhaps be distanced contact in an outdoor setting, and resumption of more non covid medical treatment. I think she may have given some others to but I have forgotten, it will probably be on Iplayer or YouTube.

I am hopeful we might get a slightly more positive picture if our R is lower. I think it might be a similar case of 'this is what we might do when'.

I'm guessing it would be most expedient to measure R in Glasgow, Edinburgh rather than highlands and islands. So that high R guesstimate is the most useful one to use, even if not accurate for large chunks of the Scottish population.

She's following the advice from the same behaviourist team after all!

I've seen the summary of Nicola's review.

I very much doubt we'll do much different from Scotland - it's too risky for us to have a totally different exit path. They also said at the briefing (either yesterday or Sunday) that the daily rate of deaths was still too high to consider making any significant changes.

Furlough ends at the end of June if my company can keep going (still got to pay all the other bills..) till that point (I fear unlikely) then I will no longer have a job and no redundancy due to being on a zero hours contract. Same for quite a few industries, so Rishi has to ensure that when he does finish it that he doesn't trigger a mass amount of unemployment and bankruptcies. I think he will have to announce it is stepping down to 50% for another month or something.

Also just skim read the review, I think we will closely follow and have another 3 weeks but with a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. But looking at what Scotland are only considering to allow by end of May, I don’t think we will see huge changes.

I really hope Boris doesn’t do something really different to Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon said something about if the evidence permits, she hopes the whole of the UK will align on it's way forward.

Only rumours, but I did read earlier about the amount of the furlough scheme being reduced to say 60%.

I think furlough might be wound down by sector so if they for instance say garden centres and car showrooms car mechanics and hairdressers can re-open then you will no longer be able to be furloughed from these type of businesses; but if you work at a restaurant or cinema where you are not allowed to reopen you can remain on furlough
They may also start asking for evidence that these people were truly in danger of redundancy as business was precarious rather than i'll get the government to pay for half our staff while the other half of the staff are expected to work twice as hard to make up for the ones furloughed, or looking at such as some big businesses like football clubs( though it's not just football) and wondering why some staff are furloughed on minimum wage while others are still being paid thousands per week

From The Guardian

Government looking to close wage-subsidy scheme

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is preparing to wind down the coronavirus wage-subsidy scheme for workers in the UK from July as part of government plans to gradually remove lockdown measures.

The Treasury is understood to be examining several options for tapering the scheme, including cutting the 80% wage subsidy paid by the state to 60% and lowering the £2,500 cap on monthly payments. Another option promoted by employers’ groups to allow furloughed staff to work, but with a smaller state subsidy, is also under consideration.

letsme Boris will be making decisions for the whole of the UK, including Scotland.

Biscuit0110 Boris does not make decisions for Scotland. As Nicola Sturgeon said today, it would be ideal if the 4 nations agree on the lockdown extension and sussequent lifting of restrictions but Scotland (and Northern Ireland) will not be lifting restrictions purely to follow England.

Each nation makes its own decisions. On Sunday Boris’s announcement will only relate to England.

Which channel is the announcement at 7PM going to be on?

Actually that’s a good point. The end of the furlough scheme will be Scotland too? So people can’t really lock down in Scotland if they aren’t being paid. They will need to go back to work. Or can NS do a furlough scheme only for Scotland ?

All the terrestrial ones