2 2GM Wednesday April 8 2020 | the times
News
The government is facing calls to re-
think its coronavirus support package
after it emerged that Tesco was set to
benefit from a state-funded £700 mil-
lion tax holiday despite predictions that
it will post increased profits.
Rushanara Ali, the Labour MP for
Bethnal Green & Bow, said it was an
absolute scandal that Tesco, the coun-
try’s biggest retailer, has been handed a
large tax break at a time when its sales
are surging as people stock up on sup-
plies. The supermarket is expected to
post pre-tax profits today of £1.85 bil-
lion for the year to February, up by
£300 million from last year.
Tesco is set to save about £700 mil-
lion in tax this year thanks to Rishi Sun-
ak’s decision to give all retailers a 12-
month business rates holiday. Super-
markets are collectively expected to
save £3 billion as a result of the move,
even though their stores are open and
sales have rocketed.
Ms Ali, a member of the Treasury
select committee, believes that the tax
break is “completely disproportionate”.
She said: “If there is a case for super-
markets getting some help, we need to
see what the evidence is for that, butTesco gets £700m tax break
as it expects surge in profits
Eleni Courea Political Reporter those who are doing extremely well and
whose profits are increasing should not
be qualifying for a business rates holi-
day when others desperately need it.
“It’s an absolute scandal that the gov-
ernment is providing a £700 million tax
break to Tesco while millions of self-
employed and freelance workers, even
those who qualify, cannot get any
money until June.
“Then there are 2.2 million people
who don’t even qualify for anything,
along with millions of people who live
in poverty.”
Supermarkets argue that they have
had to take on significant extra costs to
increase delivery capacity, implement
social-distancing measures and pay
staff who are off sick or self-isolating.
Tesco announced last month that it
would recruit 20,000 temporary work-
ers for at least 12 weeks.
Supermarket companies recorded an
extra £1.9 billion in sales over the past
four weeks, according to industry
figures from Nielsen, as shoppers made
more than 79 million extra trips to
stores.
Other retailers are calling for Eng-
land to follow Wales in excluding the
supermarkets from rates relief. Last
year Tesco paid £725 million, Sains-bury’s £567 million and Morrisons £
million in business rates.
The 12-month business rates holiday
was announced last month as part of
measures designed to help the eco-
nomy to weather the pandemic.
Clive Lewis, the shadow Treasury
minister, called on the government to
ensure that policies were properly tar-
geted. “The knowledge that super-
large profits, in part due to the crisis, are
now being made and enhanced because
of such policies will be a source of anger
and frustration to many,” he said.
Thousands of small companies face
collapse if the lockdown is extended as
many cannot access the government’s
business interruption loans because of
demand on the 40 lenders offering
them. Theo Paphitis, who runs Ryman
and Robert Dyas, complained last week
that the government’s approach “hasn’t
been thought out”. Others have called
for the measures to be reviewed after
the pandemic has ended.
Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chan-
cellor, said: “Supermarkets should
ensure additional profits go to reward
all those staff who are going above and
beyond, support those in need via food-
banks and help suppliers in difficulties.”
Robert Colvile, page 24time when global supply chains are so
disrupted. John Newton, the national
testing co-ordinator, said that govern-
ment scientists were aiming to work
with British companies who were
working on such products to come up
with one that was accurate.
“There are encouraging signs that in
the UK our scientists are able to ident-
ify antigens and antibodies, which
could be the basis of an excellent test,”
he said.
“There are testing manufacturers
who we think could help with this,
which of course would be great if we
could have a home-produced test.”
Public Health England has devel-
oped a lab-based antibody test that is
being used in a research programme at
Porton Down, but the ultimate goal is a
finger-prick test that could be sent
through the post in bulk and give
people results in minutes.
Even products that appear about
95 per cent accurate are not considered
good enough to send to millions of
people because of the risk that large
numbers would be wrongly told that
they were immune.
Mr Hancock will use a call with in-
dustry today to ask for ideas on newhas announced that it will begin
blocking videos that link Covid-19 to
the development of 5G technology
after incidents in which people in the
UK burnt telephone masts out of un-
founded fear that the radio frequencies
were harmful.
The video site, which is owned by
Google, said: “Any content that
disputes the existence or transmission
of Covid-19, as described by the WHO
and local health authorities, is in viola-
tion of YouTube policies. This includes
conspiracy theories which claim that
the symptoms are caused by 5G.”
Swansea Bay University Health
Board was forced yesterday to refute a
viral tweet claiming that two of its
nurses had died and three more were
being ventilated.Tom Knowles, Will Humphries
COMMENT 23
LEADING ARTICLES 27
WORLD 28BUSINESS 33
REGISTER 49
WEATHER 53Global
confirmed casesUK confirmed
casesBRITAIN’S MOST TRUSTED
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
CORONAVIRUS SUMMARY
SPORT 54
CROSSWORD 60
TV & RADIO TIMESTrump offer rejected
President Trump’s offer to provide
an experimental coronavirus
treatment for Boris Johnson has
been turned down by Downing
Street. Mr Trump said that he had
asked therapeutics manufacturers
with whom the US government
was dealing to “contact London
immediately”. A Downing Street
spokesman said: “We’re confident
the prime minister is receiving the
best possible care from the
National Health Service. Any
treatment he receives is a matter
for his doctors.” Page 4Raab: Cabinet is united
Dominic Raab has struggled to
answer whether he had the
authority to implement changes
of direction as the coronavirus
crisis unfolds. The foreign
secretary said that the cabinet was
united behind carrying out Mr
Johnson’s instructions with “calm
determination”. Asked who would
make a decision if there was a
disagreement among senior
ministers, he was only able to
respond that “decision making is
made by collective cabinet
responsibility”. Page 81,423,642 81,
55,242 6,
Biggest rise in deaths
The official UK death toll from
coronavirus stood at 6,159 after a
rise of 854 — the largest
daily increase to date. The
Office for National
Statistics said that
93 per cent of deaths
occurred in hospitals
with the remainder in
hospices, care homes or
private homes, confirming
that the daily numbers
reported by NHS amd
government officialsunderestimate the total. Page 11
Italy tests for immunity
Two Italian regions are testing
doctors and nurses for coronavirus
antibodies in an effort to build an
army of medics with immunity to
the disease who can be deployed
to the most infected isolation
wards. The plan for “immunity
licences” in Veneto and Emilia
Romagna comes as the Italian
government prepares to send the
country back to work as its rate of
contagion slows. Page 14Lockdown exit strategy
The “segmenting” of Britain’s
population into different risk
groups with enhanced
shielding of the
vulnerable could provide
a path out of lockdown,
experts said.
Healthcare staff and
other people in contact
with those at most risk
might have to accept
tougher restrictions until
they can be given regular tests to
prove they will not pass on thevirus to vulnerable people. Page 10
Bosses told to limit pay
The government is urging
companies to curtail executive pay
as a wave of them furlough staff
and access taxpayer aid during the
coronavirus crisis. Ministers are
looking for remuneration
committees to use “discretion”
when agreeing directors’ pay and
to adjust future packages in some
cases. Many companies have
already suspended dividend
payouts to investors. Page 33Global deaths
UK deaths
COMMENT
This crisis has shone a light on an America
where science competes with superstition
DANIEL FINKELSTEIN, PAGE 23
Spurs training in park
José Mourinho and his players
have been warned by Tottenham
Hotspur after they were
photographed flouting the
government’s lockdown guidelines.
The Spurs manager was seen
standing with Tanguy Ndombele,
the midfielder, and two others on
Hadley Common near Barnet in
north London. He appeared to be
holding a stopwatch and clocking
a player running. Page 6017
DAYS OF UK
LOCKDOWN
Faith groups in fear
Jewish and Muslim communities
fear that they are suffering a
disproportionate level of Covid-
cases. Common to both faiths are
inter-generational ties in
close-knit family groups, frequent
communal activities and regular
attendance at places of worship.
There is also concern that official
advice restricting social contact
was slow to permeate some
neighbourhoods. Page 12Please note, some sections of The Times are available only in the United Kingdom and Ireland
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Tech giants put brakes on virus fake news
ways of testing that can get to 10,
people a day within two months. Brit-
ain’s two biggest pharmaceutical
groups are working with Cambridge
University to help to accelerate testing.
Glaxosmithkline and Astrazeneca
plan to set up a new facility within the
university’s Anne McLaren laboratory
that it hopes will provide 30,000 anti-
gen tests a day. However, it will only be
fully operational by early next month,
when it is looking to produce tests in
their low thousands.
The lab will also explore the use of
alternative chemical reagents for test
kits to help to overcome the present
supply shortages.Tech giants are taking steps to crack
down on fake news after a surge of
misinformation on social media during
the Covid-19 pandemic.
Whatsapp, the instant messaging
service owned by Facebook, is restrict-
ing the number of accounts to which a
person can forward a message, cutting
it from five chats to one.
Although users will still be able to
forward a message to many by doing it
one person at a time, Whatsapp hopes
the change will create “friction” in the
spread of misinformation. It introduced
a measure last year to label messages
with a double arrow if they have been
forwarded multiple times.
Whatsapp and other closed messag-ing apps with end-to-end encryption
present a headache for tech companies
and regulators because it is not possible
to check if false information is spread-
ing rapidly, unlike on open platforms
such as Instagram and Facebook. This
puts the onus on friends and family to
identify whether information is true.
MPs have already called on members
of the public to send evidence of fake
news spreading online about the
coronavirus to a parliamentary
sub-committee on online harms.
Tech companies such as Google and
Facebook have also ensured that when
a user writes coronavirus or Covid-
into their search bar they are given
information from the World Health
Organisation (WHO) and other
authoritative health groups. YouTubeNew UK cases
Mar Apr
6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Cases are reported
when lab tests are
completed. This may
be a few days after
initial testingSource: Department of Health and Social Care000s
continued from page 1
Rallying cry for test kits
Doctors tellbetting firms
to cut adverts
A group of top doctors is calling on the
gambling industry to suspend all bet-
ting adverts during lockdown.
The chairman of the British Medical
Association, the president of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists and the direct-
or of the NHS’s National Problem
Gambling Clinic, say that the sector
must “realign its moral compass”.
In a letter to The Times, they say:
“Too much time and a lack of distrac-
tions during lockdown have placed
many more at risk of gambling beyond
their means, particularly the half a mil-
lion people suffering with gambling dis-
order and the two million people
already showing harm from gambling.”
The Betting and Gaming Council
said: “There is not a shred of evidence to
support these alarmist calls. The incon-
venient truth is levels of gambling have
plummeted during Covid.”
Letters, page 26Andrew Ellson