Govt announces Covid loophole for business execs – much to the annoyance of we mere mortals

Overseas business leaders will no longer need to quarantine when arriving in England if their trip is likely to be of significant economic benefit to the UK, the Government has announced.

It comes as UK Covid cases increased by more than 26,000 yesterday in the worst day since the January surge.

The question a lot of us are asking is how do you quantify economic benefit to the UK, who decides the criteria and how will we know?

If a UK based asset stripper meets a non-UK based asset stripper in London, does that count? The safe money would be on ‘yes’.

Investment

But before we go all anti-capitalist here is what the government has had to say on the matter.

First off, company executives wishing to travel to England to make a “financial investment in a UK-based business” or for “establishing a new business within the UK” will be exempt from quarantine- but they will need written permission first.

The Department for Business said: “This exemption is designed to enable activity that creates and preserves UK jobs and investment, while taking steps to ensure public health risks are minimised.”

But the Government added that business leaders will not qualify for an exemption if the activities can be carried out remotely via telephone or email, or by another person.

“Significant economic benefit” is considered to be having a greater than 50 per cent chance of creating or preserving at least 500 UK-based jobs, or creating a new UK business within two years, the new guidance added.

Full of holes

The jobs idea is noble, of course, but the ‘creating a new UK business within two years’ is vague and full of holes.

Anyone could set up a shell company in the UK and bring virtually zero wealth into the country, apart from the cost of registering the name.

I wasn’t the only sleuth who saw this plan as potentially a way for rich and powerful people to simply sidestep the rules us mere mortals have to abide with.