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Christopher Snowdon responds to latest coronavirus measures

Commenting on the latest Coronavirus measures, including a 10pm mandatory closing time for licensed premises, Christopher Snowdon, IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics, said:

“A 10pm closing time for all pubs, bars and other hospitality seems to have emerged from a random policy generator.

“While mandatory table service has been part of the successful Swedish approach and may have merit, the new closing time will be devastating to a hospitality sector that was already suffering after the first lockdown.

“The government should publish the evidence upon which this decision was based.”

ICYMI – Earlier IEA Economics Fellow, Julian Jessop, calculated that every two weeks of further lockdown could cost the UK at least £8 billion in lost output and leave another 300,000 unemployed.  Read his full comment here.

Notes to editors

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Christopher Snowdon is available for interview and further comment.

Further IEA reading on the government’s lockdown measures here.

The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.