Covid-19 Support Schemes: Ineligible People Debate
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Andrea Leadsom
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Covid-19 Support Schemes: Ineligible People
Andrea Leadsom Excerpts(4 years ago)
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Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)
I want to make a few brief remarks. I congratulate the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) on securing the debate.
I recognise the massive effort made this year to provide broad support right across the economy. In its recent assessment of the UK’s economic response, the International Monetary Fund praised our Government’s actions as
“one of the best examples of coordinated action globally”,
saying that they had
“helped mitigate the damage, holding down unemployment and insolvencies.”
I take my hat off to the Chancellor. His policies mean that many more jobs will be saved and our economy will experience a faster bounce back.
I also have a lot of sympathy, however, for specific businesses and sectors in our economy that have missed out, often through no fault of their own. For some, the types of support were not relevant or they had unfortunate timing issues. This includes a number of my constituents, and I want to give just three examples.
First, Jo from Brackley runs a building maintenance company. She has received only £550 a month since lockdown and has lost thousands of pounds’ worth of work. Secondly, Shirley runs a small, independent clothing business. She has received no income for herself or her business and is having now to sell all her stock at a loss as well as make her staff redundant. Thirdly, Mark and Louise are, along with so many other wedding and event organisers, unable to operate at all. They have experienced almost 100% cancelled bookings and a total collapse in income.
I think that most people in the country would agree that this Government have gone further than any other Government to protect livelihoods as well as lives. I agree with other hon. Members, however, that now is the time to consider those left behind and see what we can do to help them survive into 2021. If we do that, they can start to rebuild their businesses and to create new jobs, as they have done so successfully in the past.