Responding to the roadmap announcement, British Chambers of Commerce Co-Executive Director Claire Walker said:

“Businesses across the country will be relieved to hear that they will be able to re-open or restart more of their operations on May 17th. The last few months have seen many firms either severely restricted in their activities, or unable to trade at all, and this announcement will come as a huge boost to them.

“Questions still remain over what kind of restrictions businesses will be expected to operate under in the medium to long-term, and government must move to answer these as soon as possible. In addition, government must continue to do everything it can to support businesses in the transition back to full trading, giving them every chance to recover and thrive in a post-pandemic world.”