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Rishi Sunak is expected to announce his fourth business support package in as many months amid mounting pressure on the government to help the most affected businesses in the regions affected by the blockade.
Trade unions and the UK’s five big employers’ organizations were summoned to the Treasury on Thursday morning to hear details of the chancellor’s plans before making a statement to MPs.
Sunak, who has scrapped plans for a three-year spending review in favor of a one-year interim deal, will tell Commons that the outlook for the economy is turning bleaker as more and more countries face further restrictions. strict to combat Covid. -19 pandemic.
Level one – medium
- The “rule of six” applies, which means that it is forbidden to socialize in groups of more than six people, whether indoors or outdoors.
- Merchants can continue to come to a home to work and are not counted toward the six-person limit.
- Businesses and venues can continue to operate, but pubs and restaurants need to ensure that customers only consume food and beverages while seated, and they close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
- Take-out can continue to be sold after 10 p.m. M. If ordered by phone or online.
- Schools and universities remain open.
- Places of worship remain open, but people should not mix in a group of more than six.
- Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of people who can attend (15 and 30 respectively).
- Exercise classes and organized sports can continue to take place outdoors and, if the rule of six is followed, indoors.
Level two – high
- People are prohibited from socializing with people outside their home or with bubbles of support in any indoor environment.
- Traders can continue to go home to work.
- The rule of six still applies to socializing outdoors, for example in a garden or in a public space such as a park or a beach.
- Businesses and venues can continue to operate, but pubs and restaurants need to ensure that customers only consume food and beverages while seated, and they close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
- Take-out can continue to be sold after 10 p.m. M. If ordered online or by phone.
- Schools and universities remain open.
- Places of worship remain open, but people should not mix in a group of more than six.
- Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of people who can attend (15 and 30 respectively).
- Exercise classes and organized sports may continue to take place outdoors, but will only be allowed indoors if people can avoid mixing with people they don’t live with (or don’t share a bubble of support with ), or for youth or disabled sports.
- Travel to open services, for work, or to access education is allowed, but people are encouraged to reduce the number of trips whenever possible.
Level three: very high
- People are prohibited from socializing with people they do not live with or have not formed a supportive bubble with, in any indoor setting, private garden, or most outdoor entertainment venues and ticketed events.
- Traders can continue to go home to work.
- The rule of six still applies to public outdoor spaces, such as parks, beaches, public gardens, or sports facilities.
- Pubs and bars can only remain open to operate as restaurants, in which case alcohol can only be served as part of a substantial meal.
- Schools and universities remain open.
- Places of worship remain open, but domestic mixing is not allowed.
- Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of people attending (15 and 30 respectively), but wedding receptions are not allowed.
- The rules for exercise classes and organized sport are the same as for level 2. They can continue to take place outdoors, but will only be allowed indoors if it is possible for people to avoid mixing with people they do not live with. (or share a bubble with support), or for youth sports or for the disabled. However, in Merseyside, gyms were ordered to close when they entered level 3.
- Avoid traveling outside of an area with a very high alert level or entering an area with a very high alert level, except for reasons such as work, education or youth services, to fulfill care responsibilities or if you are traveling as part of a longer trip.
- Residents of a level 3 area should avoid spending the night in another part of the UK, while people living in a level 1 or level 2 area should avoid spending the night in a very high alert level area.
In a week dominated by the government’s dispute with Greater Manchester over financial support, and with 26,688 new coronavirus cases and 191 deaths announced on Wednesday, the chancellor will seek to refute criticism that not enough is being done by underlining £ 200 billion of Treasury support since the crisis began.
But Sunak has been exploring a number of options to provide more help after feeling increasingly depressed about job prospects in the coming months.
These include whether the two-thirds wage subsidy for laid off hospitality workers in Level 3 areas, those with the most stringent restrictions, is generous enough, and whether enough is being done to help bars and restaurants on level 2, which are not. they were forced to close, but revenue has plummeted since the ban on homes mixing indoors.
One plan being considered is to extend eligibility for business grants, which are currently only available to businesses ordered to close completely. These are worth £ 1,500 every three weeks for larger companies and £ 1,000 for smaller ones.
After a series of measures when the crisis began, Sunak cut VAT and stamp duty on his eat-out mini-budget to help out in July and announced support for part-time workers in his September winter economic plan. This was followed by his plan to support hospitality workers laid off due to Level 3 measures earlier this month.
The Treasury’s shadow chief secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “Every intervention she makes is clearly hasty and sooner or later falls apart. They need to step back and resolve the relationship between health and economic strategy. “
Ministers are particularly concerned about the hotel industry in London, which accounts for almost a quarter of the UK economy and is currently at Tier 2, but they will not want it to be seen as favoring the capital at a time when North to South feelings in England are running high.
Sunak’s calls to bolster its support have intensified, despite official figures showing that the UK took out more loans in the first six months of the current financial year than in the worst year of the banking crisis at the end of the decade. from 2000.
Birmingham’s conservative Mayor Andy Street has called for more help for the city’s businesses, which are also under Tier 2 measures.
The Warrington South congressman urged the government to do more to help hotel businesses in the Commons on Thursday, saying local pubs had told him that the drop in trade had made their businesses unsustainable. “Now is the time for the hospitality industries in particular, at Tier 2, to get industry specific support,” said Andy Carter.
Torsten Bell, director of the think tank Resolution Foundation, said: “The big picture this fall is that economic policy is taking time to catch up with the reality that the virus is growing, not decreasing. That radically changes what we are trying to achieve and increases the priority of protecting people’s incomes.
“Instead of ad hoc negotiations like the ones we’ve seen with Greater Manchester this week, we need a national policy that suits their purpose.”
The TUC called for an immediate increase in basic universal credit to £ 260 per week, while the Small Business Federation said it was necessary to extend the support offered at level 3 to the self-employed and supply chains.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The tightening of restrictions will have a massive impact on businesses, especially in sectors such as hospitality. The government must recognize this and ensure that workers have the financial support they need to get through the winter.
“That is why we ask that 80% of workers’ wages be covered when companies are forced to close. And that ministers help companies experiencing reduced demand by making the short-time work scheme more generous and reducing employer contributions. “
