Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings his Department has had with Easyjet on its proposed 4,500 job losses; and what plans the Government has to help safeguard the future of those jobs.

It would not be appropriate to comment on individual discussions. However, we recognise that this will be very distressing news for EasyJet employees and their families, and we stand ready to support them.

Our transport systems are critical to support the restart of the wider economy and we continue to work closely with the aviation sector on these restart plans and the longer-term recovery of the sector. Firms can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures, including schemes to raise capital, flexibilities with tax bills, and financial support for employees. If airlines find themselves in trouble because of coronavirus, and have exhausted the measures already available to them, the Government is prepared to enter discussions with individual companies seeking bespoke support as a last resort, having exhausted all other options.??Any intervention would need to represent value for money for taxpayers.