If there is to be a long period of lockdown I agree a universal income should be considered and I would be inclined to restrict it to all basic rate taxpayers.There is no easy way out of this lockdown and this virus is hear to stay,until a vaccine or herd immunity is achieved.The one thing more than anything that will lift the lockdown is economic pressure which will increase substantially from next month onwards as most people would have been paid as normal at the end of March so ok for April.Its when the sudden drop in income happens at the end of this month not too mention how long can all the `non essential` businesses survive with no revenue! Not many will last beyond 2 months.
Your points above apply to many many businesses in hospitality,lesuire and tourism across the rest of the uk as well.
An economic meltdown=mass unemployment and mass defaults=another financial crisis= no more NHS and other public services!
Unless the govt are going to indroduce a universal income and basically lay much of the economy to waste by imposing a lockdown lasting months they are going to have to gradually ease restrictions by end of May at the latest.
The public at the moment are onboard in a big way but that could evaporate very quickly which could then lead to civil unrest.
The govt cannot just look at this from a medical view point and make the remedy worse than the disease.
Originally Posted by: springsunshine