Extra money for pubs and restaurants as the prime minister tries to fend off the Tory rebellion



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Labor Party leader Sir Keir Starmer will decide whether the Labor Party endorses or abstains in Tuesday’s vote after meeting with Professor Chris Whitty, the medical director, on Sunday.

A senior government source said: “We understand the fact that the hospitality industry has been particularly hard hit during the pandemic. The Christmas period is a time of year when establishments expect to be particularly busy, so we are looking at how we can them during the festive period. “

The prime minister said in a newspaper article on Sunday that he “regrets” the bar trade due to the effect of the restrictions he has imposed.

And in a letter to MPs, Johnson admitted that pubs and restaurants, which fear mass closures under the Tier 2 and 3 measures before Christmas, were losing out because “there are only a limited number of settings in which you can push transmission “if schools and workplaces should stay open.

Details of the additional support are expected to be announced this week, possibly before the crucial parliamentary vote.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is understood to have adhered to the plan, which will likely be financed by additional short-term loans.

In his letter to the CRG, Johnson also promised new personalized risk assessments to help free vulnerable people from shielding, better communication on how to avoid disease transmission, more asymptomatic carrier testing, and regular updates on non-compliance.

Over the weekend, the Prime Minister had tried to appease the conservative rebels by promising to review all levels on December 16 and offering a vote at the end of January on whether to end the levels with a time-out clause to abolish them as of February 3. .

However, Steve Baker, vice president of the CRG, said MPs could not endorse the plans until they had a thorough analysis of whether they were justified.

“We are still waiting for the analysis of the health, economic and social impact. That is the key we have been asking for, ”he said.

“The bottom line is that these restrictions are necessary and proportionate to the threat facing the community as a whole.

“That is the fundamental question when you look at the pain of people who lose their businesses, or young people in their 20s and 30s who face isolation and miss the best years of their lives. We need to know if this is necessary and proportionate. It is not enough to say that the NHS will have problems because the table above turned out not to be true. “

Another senior conservative from the north of England said: “What they have to have in that assessment to be credible is the number of lives that will be lost as a result of the shutdown, the mental health problems that will result from unemployment, the number of businesses to be closed, the cost in terms of GDP.

“If they do that, I think it is inevitable that they will weaken their argument, which is why they have resisted doing so until now.”

There is growing anger in the hotel industry over the new restrictions. Legal action is being considered over “defective and discriminatory” pub and restaurant closures after it emerged. Government scientists found that the virus does not spread in well-ventilated spaces.

Kate Nicholls, UK Hospitality CEO, said the evidence showed the government had treated pubs, restaurants and hotels inconsistently and needed to rethink its approach. “

Depending on the outcome of that, then we will consider our option in terms of the next legal steps, ”Ms. Nicholls told The Telegraph.



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