New Covid-19 restrictions mean UK unemployment will get much worse

Bank of England forecasts for 7.5% unemployment this winter may have to be revised up considerably

It is March 2021. In the UK, the clocks are about to go forward and the government is about to ease restrictions imposed six months earlier in response to a rise in Covid-19 cases. A long, hard winter is over.

But at what cost? That was the question exercising politicians, business leaders and economists after the prime minister announced curbs on opening hours for pubs and restaurants, and backtracked on the government's previous advice that people should stop working from home. Economists at Bank of America think Britain is on course to contract in both the final three months of this year and the first three months of next.