BRITAIN is definitely bouncing back with nine in ten businesses open again, figures revealed today.
The first official statistics detailing the return from lockdown reveal High Street and shopping centre activity is picking up.
And traffic is almost back to normal levels — with 100 per cent of White Van Men back on the road.
Experts and MPs have welcomed statistics showing that more people are getting out and about and boosting business after the Covid-19 crisis.
The figures show nine in ten drivers have returned to the road and millions of shoppers are back on the High Street.
But many office staff are failing to get back to work — which is affecting city centres.
PM Boris Johnson looked at the positives and hailed the “hugely encouraging” signs.
The Office for National Statistics data showed footfall at all retail locations is up to 68 per cent from a low of around ten per cent in early April.
BACK OPEN
Shopping centres and High Streets are back to 60 per cent of last year’s levels of visitors.
Ninety-three per cent of businesses are back open. Seventy-seven per cent of firms said there was no risk or a low risk they could go bust.
A third said lockdown had not affected their turnover for this year. But half said they had seen a decrease.
Just one in eight of the workforce remains on furlough.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out Scheme to boost restaurants, cafes and pubs was used 11 million times last week.
Data up to Monday of this week showed road traffic just nine per cent lower than the equivalent Monday in February.
Britain’s White Van drivers are back to 100 per cent of pre-Covid-19 rates.
ONS senior statistician Chloe Gibbs said: “Road traffic data shows the number of car journeys is returning to normal levels as people venture out to shops and travel to work.”
But many huge firms are still telling workers to stay home and it is having a major knock-on effect on rail, Tube and bus commuter numbers and the wider urban economy.
It is a huge blow for cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester. Their centres became ghost towns during lockdown.
Cafe chains including Pret a Manger have announced job cuts as a result of having fewer customers.
Rail usage has slumped to 23 per cent of last year’s levels, the Tube at 30 per cent and buses at 41 per cent.
Tonight Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith warned: “Office workers, civil servants, those in big companies are really being shown up by the self-employed and small businesses who are all getting back to work and are thus helping the economy.
“It’s down to these businesses and their office workers to recognise their responsibility, and get back to the office so they can help all the smaller businesses, the cafes, restaurants and bars in the centre of our towns and cities, so they are able to prosper again.”
A No10 spokesman said: “This data shows our economy and society have reopened successfully — and it is hugely encouraging this has happened without a resurgence in the virus.”
