The hospitality sector is calling on the government to be guided by ‘data not dates’ and ease restrictions further a year on from the first national lockdown.
UKHospitality recycled the phrase the prime minister used ahead of his February 22 roadmap announcement in order to urge the government to stick to its plans for a full removal of restrictions no later than June 21.
The group is calling on the government to loosen restrictions in line with the data following the success of the vaccination programme and declining hospitalisation and fatality rates.
The trade association has called on the government to allow all hotels with self-contained rooms to open alongside other self-contained accommodation on April 12.
It has also requested that Covid-secure weddings and receptions are permitted to take place from April 12 and that the number of guests allowed from May 17 is increased in line with other events, such as sport.
Other pleas being made by UKhospitality include an earlier reopening of children’s indoor play areas, currently set for May 17, and for venues to take orders via a hatch or outdoor till on April 12 and take orders at the bar from May 17.
MPs will debate support for the hospitality industry on Wednesday (March 24).
The government’s current roadmap allows outdoor trading from April 12, but many venues will have to wait a further nine weeks, until May 17, to open indoors in order to trade.
UKhospitality argued this could put more jobs in danger and more businesses at risk of closure, with trading unlikely to return to normal for at least six months.
The Covid-19 pandemic has cost the sector more than 600,000 jobs, 12,000 business failures and lost sales of £86 billion with more than eight months of enforced closure since the first lockdown started on March 23 last year, said UKhospitality.
Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: “The last 12 months have been truly awful for our sector. That is why any controls that limit commercial activity upon reopening should be necessary and proportionate and we back the recent call from the public accounts committee for the government to provide the evidence for such limits.
“While any restrictions remain in place, our pubs and restaurants can only break even and the viability of thousands remains at risk – we lost over 12,000 in the last year alone.
“Hospitality can lead economic recovery in the UK, providing jobs to people who have lost them and continuing to serve those most in need in communities all over the country. To do this however, we need to be able to operate without being strangled by restrictions.”
She added: “We also urge the government to look again at some areas of support it introduced in the budget, in particular the business rates cap, which unfairly penalises a large proportion of hospitality businesses who will find themselves paying full rates just days after restrictions are fully lifted in June. That cannot be right, and we urge ministers to think again.”