Concerns about the decision have been raised by teachers unions, who want guarantees about the availability of personal protective equipment for staff to be made, as well as further guidance on how to enforce social distancing in areas such as classrooms and playgrounds.
But is Westminster right to seek to re-open primary schools amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic?
Political Commentator Graham Eardley gave his views on the matter…
Sputnik: Is Westminster right to seek to re-open primary schools amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic?
Graham Eardley: I think that only a couple of school years are opening at the moment, and they are doing it stage by stage, so as long as they keep it monitored. Then yes, the sooner we can get out of these lockdown restrictions the better, but it must be done in a safe way.
Sputnik: Have Downing Street’s decisions been undermined by the recent controversy surrounding Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s political adviser Dominic Cummings?
Graham Eardley: As far as Dominic Cummings is concerned, I think that statements of Durham Constabulary are true and accurate, in that he may have broken the law when he went to Barnard Castle, but any punishment must be given on an equivalent basis, so that he isn’t punished in a different way, just because he is the Prime Minister’s adviser, to say any Joe Bloggs in the street.
Some people say that he may have diminished the Prime Minister’s response, but ultimately he is the Prime Minister’s adviser, and it’s up to the Prime Minister to decide on any punishment for him, and in turn, it will be up to the electorate to decide on how they treat Boris Johnson.
Sputnik: How will the UK’s economy be able to recover from the debts incurred by funding Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s emergency furloughing scheme?
Graham Eardley: I think that an agreement will have to be reached where global debt is written off. It’s not just the UK that is suffering from the coronavirus, every country is suffering, so, therefore, there has got to be some sort of global agreement between countries to write off the debt.
