Chancellor to urge workers back to office

In a boost to city-based businesses, Rishi Sunak said operating remotely via Zoom had been 'not great' for workers at the beginning of their careers, who find face-to-face interaction particularly valuable.

Signalling his strong support for workers to return to the office at step four of the Prime Minister’s roadmap out of restrictions, scheduled for July 19, he told The Telegraph​​​: “I think for young people, especially, that ability to be in your office, be in your workplace and learn from others more directly, is something that’s really important and I look forward to us slowly getting back to that.”

The Chancellor stressed, however, that it was 'not for the Government to start mandating exactly what people should and shouldn’t do in this circumstance, insisting 'we’ve got to get away from that'.

He added: “Ultimately I trust people and businesses to make decisions for themselves.”

On the country’s recovery, Sunak said the economy’s 'engine is roaring' and 'moving up a gear' as restrictions were lifted.

He said the success of the vaccination programme, which had 'significantly broken' the link between cases and hospitalisations and deaths, had given ministers 'confidence' to abolish restrictions as the vaccine rollout progressed.

“Even with rising case numbers, the hospitalisation numbers are at a manageable level,” he said.