Sunak tells street traders: ‘It’ll get busier’

LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister Rishi Sunak told traders at a London street market on Monday that business would pick up in coming days as people started to get their lives back to normal following the government’s easing of the coronavirus lockdown.

“How’s it been? Slow? It’ll get busier,” Sunak told one market trader at the Tachbrook Market in Pimlico, where he bought a take-away lunch of falafel. “It’ll take a bit of time but we’ll get there.”

He added: “We are now at the stage of that plan when we can get our lives a little bit more back to normal – but that is not an overnight, big bang thing – it is measured, progressive. We are doing it in a safe and responsible way.

“Hopefully at the beginning of July we will be able to get many more restaurants and pubs open as well,” he said. “People should have the confidence to go out there and get their lives a little bit more back to normal.”