Covid-19: Businesses and the Private Sector

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my colleague and noble friend Lord Dobbs. It is worth reminding ourselves of the macro situation. One-third of the UK’s GDP is covered by public services, and they are all working flat out now. Another third is those who are producing and distributing food, fuel, power, water, water disposal and waste disposal, and they are working flat out. There is a remaining third, where nothing is happening: they are shut down, they cannot work, they cannot sell and they cannot deliver. We urgently need to get them back to work, and to do that we need a sensible distancing level of one metre, as recommended by the World Health Organization and used by France and Italy. Secondly, we must never forget my university’s diktat of Maynard Keynes: unemployment is the issue that has to be dealt with, not debt.

Turning quickly to Public Health England, I am sorry to say that while it may be working hard, it has rebuffed offers of help from the private sector. That is not a good situation. It happened with PPE and it is happening now with testing. That has to be dealt with now; it is urgent.

Finally, I say a few words of thanks to my local Tesco, at Sandy. It is well run, well organised and responsive, and my goodness, that has happened in store after store, up and down the country. Secondly, I pay tribute to the work of the National Business Response Network. It has had well over 1,000 requests, half of which have been dealt with and the other half of which are being dealt with now—all on a voluntary basis. Well done to it and to the many other organisations that have helped our people.