Stormont told: Give 
us a plan like Boris to reopen Northern Ireland

Boris Johnson unveiled his roadmap to recovery yesterday, a new four-step plan that could see shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor hospitality in England opened again by the middle of April if strict conditions are met.

In Northern Ireland, no such plan exists at present but last week First Minister Arlene Foster said a “framework” for recovery would be brought to the Stormont Executive on March 1.

Yesterday, the chief executive of Hospitality Ulster Colin Neill was amongst those urging Northern Ireland’s politicians to adopt the approach laid out by the prime minister yesterday.

“We need to see the Assembly or the Executive follow in the prime minister’s lead,” he told the News Letter.

“I think we have all learned from experience that dates can shift, but we need dates to give hope, we need dates to plan for.

“With our vaccination programme progressing at a very similar rate to Great Britain, we would hope and call on the Executive to lay out a similar timeline.”

He continued: “The prime minister has now given a lead and it now has to be a case of ‘if not, why not’ for Northern Ireland. There’s no evidence to say we’re drastically different. I think it’s essential that people are given hope. I have people who are hanging on by their fingernails and information like this gives people that hope.”

Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts expressed a similar view.

“I think it’s certainly a very realistic road map,” he said.

“I would certainly encourage the Executive to bring their road map forward.”

Mr Roberts continued: “It’s not just a question of hope. We also need to give industry time to prepare for a likely reopening of the economy.

“But the most important thing the prime minister is giving us is hope. We’re seeing more light and less tunnel and I think that is crucially important not just for our economy and our small businesses, but for our community as a whole. We need hope and we need to see the Executive giving that hopeful message as well.

“There are things we can do now to prepare for that – Covid marshalls, public hand sanitisers, scores on the doors, all of that stuff which we have been talking about for the last six or seven months now.

“The preparation for reopening, that needs to begin now.”

Mr Neill added: “People are putting in their own savings and borrowing from family to keep their businesses going and they need to know that the light at the end of the tunnel is coming, and when it’s coming.”

The TUV, meanwhile, has said the plan should serve as a “template” for Northern Ireland.

The party’s Mid and East Antrim councillor Timothy Gaston said: “The sensible roadmap sketched out by the prime minister today for exiting lockdown in England should serve as a template for Stormont.”