Matt Hancock has been summoned to the High Court to justify why non-essential shops will be allowed to open before the full return of pubs and restaurants.
It comes after Pizza Express founder Hugh Osmond and nightclubs operator Sacha Lord launched a legal challenge claiming the Government has ‘failed’ to provide evidence for delaying the return of indoor drinking.
Pubs and restaurants in England will be able to lift the shutters of their outdoor areas to customers from April 12 – in line with the reopening of non-essential retail.
But the pair believe hospitality England should also be allowed to open indoor areas on the same day, rather than the current planned date of May 17.
They claim the risk of Covid transmission is higher in shops than it is in pubs and restaurants.
Now High Court judge Mr Justice Swift has ordered that the Health Secretary ‘shall by 10am on Tuesday April 6 file and serve his response to the application’.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Osmond said: ‘The Government left us no choice but to take it to court.
Matt Hancock has been summoned to the High Court to justify why non-essential shops will be allowed to open before the full return of pubs and restaurants
It comes after Pizza Express founder Hugh Osmond and nightclubs operator Sacha Lord launched a legal challenge claiming the Government has ‘failed’ to provide evidence for delaying the return of indoor drinking
Pubs and restaurants in England will be able to lift the shutters of their outdoor areas from April 12 – in line with the reopening of non-essential retail. But the pair believe hospitality England should also be allowed to open indoor areas on the same day, rather than the current planned date of May 17. Pictured: Friends enjoy a drink at a pub in July last year
Now High Court (pictured) judge Mr Justice Swift has ordered that the Health Secretary ‘shall by 10am on Tuesday April 6 file and serve his response to the application’
‘This is a truly urgent matter affecting the lives of millions that simply cannot wait.’
MailOnline has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.
The paper says it has seen High Court documents which show the two businessmen are challenging ‘the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021 to the extent that those Regulations provide for non-essential retail businesses to reopen before indoor hospitality businesses’.
The pair say hospitality bosses have spent millions of pounds making their businesses Covid secure since March last year.
They believe hospitality businesses should be allowed to open indoor venues with restrictions from April 12 – rather than the current planned date of May 17.
From April 12 at the earliest, shops, hairdressers, nail salons, libraries and outdoor hospitality venues such as beer gardens will be allowed to reopen.
But indoor hospitality and entertainment venues and the rest of the accommodation sector will not be able to open their doors until at least May 17.
Mr Lord and Mr Osmond had previously demanded the Government provide evidence for the decision, and threatened to launch a judicial review if they did not.
However last month the pair announced that the Government had ‘failed’ to provide new information.
They later vowed to launch the legal bid.
In a statement sent to MailOnline, Mr Lord said: ‘The Government has failed to introduce any new evidence as to why indoor hospitality cannot open on April 12 alongside non-essential retail and we will now be taking this case to the High Court for an expedited Judicial Review
‘While we’re pleased beer gardens will be reopening from 12 April, many venues don’t have the space or financial capabilities to have an outdoor area, and as we know very well in Manchester, the weather is not always kind.
‘Operators have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds creating indoor Covid secure environments, as advised by Ministers themselves, and we firmly believe these regulated, ventilated venues have much safer measures and greater social distancing in place than retail stores.
‘This is not a hospitality versus retail argument, but Government decisions must operate on a level playing field and be supported by evidence.
‘We currently see no clear justification for the delay.’
Mr Osmond, the founder of Punch Taverns, had previously written to the Prime Minister saying there was ‘no evidence or justification’ for prioritising the shops over hospitality.
He said last month that was because the range of Covid-safety measures put in place by the hospitality trade meant ‘the risk of transmission is plainly higher in non-essential shops’.
But he told Mr Johnson that ‘time is of the essence’ for the sector and warned that ‘the cost of lockdown to the hospitality industry is £200million a day’.
Mr Osmond also previously warned the Prime Minister of the ruling’s effect on jobs, citing the ‘potentially indirectly discriminatory effect’ on young people and those from minority ethnic backgrounds who work in hospitality.
In a statement on Twitter announcing the legal challenge, Mr Osmond said: ‘The Government has responded to our claim.
‘The response offers no new evidence but is cynically calculated to obfuscate and confuse the issue.
‘It will not be easy to defeat and the dice are loaded. But we will fight their prejudices and deliberate misuse of data all the way.’
Mr Lord last month spoke to BBC Radio Four to explain the pair’s legal challenge.
He said: ‘This is not us versus essential retail, but what we’re simply saying is this – the Government asked us to spend tens of millions of pounds to put these measures in place to create safe environments, that’s exactly what we did, we did what was asked of us.
‘We’re not saying let’s go back to normality where people are queuing at the bar and busy pubs and things like that.
‘What we are saying is, We feel the industry that it is safe to enter a venue wearing a mask through a one-way system, to sit at a table where you order via QR code, there is track and trace, hand sanitiser, there is only table service, and you pay at the table by card.
‘We feel that that is a safe regulated and a licenses environment as opposed to swerving in and out of shops that are non-essential retail.’
Last night a Government spokesperson said they were unable to comment on legal proceedings.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: ‘There is clear scientific evidence that the risk of transmission is considerably lower outdoors than indoors and this is reflected in our roadmap.
‘We are supporting the hospitality sector throughout the pandemic, including our new £5billion Restart Grant scheme, extending the furlough scheme and the VAT cut, and providing 750,000 businesses in hospitality and other sectors with business rates relief.’
The spokesperson added that the Government’s support package for hospitality was ‘one of the most generous in the world’.
They said the Government was offering £3,000-a-month grants for business which have been forced to close and up to £2,100 for those who are severely affected by restrictions.
Pubs will be allowed to open outdoor areas from April 12 in Step Two of the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
Step One, part A, was the reopening of schools and allowing a person to meet another person outdoors from March 6.
Part B, on March 29, will see the Rule of Six re-introduced in outdoor settings, as well as the return of outdoor sports and the loosening of the Government’s ‘Stay at Home’ message, which will become ‘Stay Local’.
Shops, hairdressers and pubs must remain closed until April 12 at the earliest – the same time gyms can get back up and running.
Even at that point pints and meals can only be consumed outdoors.
Campsites and holiday lets can reopen for single households from April 12 – but international travel is completely off the cards until at least May 17.
Social distancing rules will stay in force until June 21 at the minimum, with a government review to decide their future after that.
Another review will be held at that point to decide whether a system of vaccine certificates could be deployed within the UK to help open up the economy, something the government has previously said it is not considering.
Sports can start to return from May 17, although venues will need to work on reduced capacities.
Up to 30 people can go to weddings from the same date, but are stuck at that number until the next phase of the roadmap.
Only at June 21 will all legal limits on social contact go, and the remaining elements of the hospitality sector be allowed to open.
The PM has previously stressed that he is being driven by ‘data not dates’ and the timeline is not guaranteed.
Boris Johnson is expected to on Monday set out plans to develop a ‘Covid status certification’ scheme to enable the safe return of mass gatherings and indoor events as lockdown restrictions ease in England.
Officials are planning a series of trial events over the coming months as they look to find a way for venues such as football grounds and nightclubs to reopen without the need for social distancing.
It comes as Wetherspoon last month revealed plans for reopening its outdoor areas from April 12.
In what will be a huge boost to millions of Britons eagerly awaiting the return of beer gardens, the UK’s largest pub chain last month announced its seven point plan to reopen outdoor areas in less than a month.
Customers will be able enjoy their pint of beer or glass of wine in outdoor areas of pubs from April 12, under the Government’s current Covid road map,
However Wetherspoon chiefs say punters will able to come into the pub to use the toilet – or if it is the only way to reach the outdoor area.
In and out routes will be marked for those customers entering and leaving the pub, while test and trace will be in operation – as it was last time pubs were open.
The chain, which runs almost 900 pubs across the UK and Ireland, will encourage customers to use its app to place orders, though customers can still pay via a member of staff.
And there will be a slightly reduced menu, that will still include breakfast options, burgers, pizzas, deli deals, fish and chips and British classics
However bosses say the biggest difference to their rivals will be that customers will not be able to book places ahead of their visit.
Wetherspoon will instead opt for a first-come-first serve policy.
Mitchell and Butlers, which operates brands such as Sizzling and Harvester, also criticised the Government’s roadmap.
A spokesperson last month told MailOnline: ‘The evidence to support the delay of indoor re-opening appears very flimsy, and as such the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown seems to unfairly penalise the hospitality sector.’
However, the chain also said it plans to open up to 300 pubs in England on April 12.
A spokesperson added: ‘These plans assume we will have normal April weather – needless to say we have all fingers crossed for a spell of fine weather, in which case we may be able to open more pubs which we’d love to do.
The chain, which is owned by Tim Martin (pictured) runs almost 900 pubs across the UK and Ireland, will have to confine customers to outdoor areas until further measures are lifted
Lockdown-weary Britons eagerly awaiting the return of beer gardens have been given a major boost, with Wetherspoon chiefs announcing their reopening plan
‘In pubs which do re-open, we’ll be encouraging customers to use apps to both pre-book and then to order from their table.’
Meanwhile, rival pub chain Greene King earlier this week announced its plans to reopen 442 of its managed pubs outdoors in England from April 12.
Unlike Wetherspoon, customers can book a garden table online from Friday 26 March.
However people will also be able to visit the pub outdoors without an advance booking.
Greene King Pub Partners tenants, who make up a further 875 pubs across England, will also be deciding on an individual basis whether to reopen their outdoor areas from 12 April, bosses say.
A Greene King spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Sadly, we can only open around a third of our estate in April where we have outdoor space that will work and have a chance of being viable, but we know the vital role pubs play in communities and feel it’s important to open as many as we can to help people get back together once again.
‘We look forward to May when we can open many more of our pubs, and the all-important return to normality in June when the restrictions are fully removed, and we can start to rebuild our businesses.’
Stonegate Pub Company, the UK’s fourth biggest pub chain, with over 700 pubs, also plans to reopen around 45 per cent of its pubs on April 12.
Bosses have promised clear social distancing measures, enhanced cleaning regimes the use of NHS Test and Trace guidelines.
There will also be full table service, with contactless payment and ordering on its app.
A spokesperson for Stonegate Group, told MailOnline: ‘We are looking forward to welcoming people back through our doors on April 12.
‘Our priority remains the safety and wellbeing of our teams and customers, whilst ensuring everyone is able to enjoy and make the most out of their long awaited visit to our venues.’
‘Within our leased and tenanted business, our publicans are also getting ready to reopen, ensuring social distancing and safety measures are in place as they welcome their customers back.’