As the government urges Brits to return to the office, polling has revealed that the group who most want workers back are those aged 65 and over.
The over 65s have sent out a rallying call for Brits to return to the office as the government gears up to roll out a publicity campaign extolling the virtues of heading back to the workplace.
According to YouGov polling 44 per cent of those aged 65 and above believe firms should be encouraging staff to return to the office.
That is compared to just 26 per cent of 18 to 24 year-olds who think the same and 25 per cent of those aged 25 to 49.
“Back to the office with you!” say Britons who are no longer of working age. Britons under the age of 65 are less sure now is the right time to return to the workplace… https://t.co/MzAuA5uaap pic.twitter.com/OnLXutYv6M
— YouGov (@YouGov) August 27, 2020
The polling has been released as the government prepares to unleash a media blitz warning “Go back to work or risk losing your job”.
According to Telegraph reports ministers are sending out the message that struggling firms will find it easier to hand out P45s to people they never see rather than those who have been at their desks during the pandemic.
Labour MP Lucy Powell said it “beggars belief that the government are threatening people like this during a pandemic”, while Ryan Bourne said it is “quite frankly none of the government’s business” what firms should be advising their staff to do.
It beggars belief that the government are threatening people like this during a pandemic. It’s unconscionable. https://t.co/QcFMlLbS5J
— Lucy Powell MP (@LucyMPowell) August 27, 2020
There has also been some fierce reaction to the YouGov poll, the best of which we have compiled below:
Feels v bleak to be trapped in a country that’s building it’s future entirely on the archaic opinions of people that only seem to experience fleeting moments of happiness via other people’s misery and Diana commemorative kitchenware
— Tom Usher (@tom_usher_) August 27, 2020
Can the over 65s please just fuck off https://t.co/BykbENOGhM
— el #BLM (@possiblynotel) August 27, 2020
You know what, if over 65s want people to go back to the office, they can go first. https://t.co/mpNWoafBj4
— Sinan Kose (@TheSinanKose) August 27, 2020
Related: A timeline: How the right wing media manufactured the Proms fiasco
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