Budget 2021: The Morning Advertiser will bring you the latest reactions and updates to Chancellor Rishi Sunak s Spring 2021 Budget (Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street on Flickr) The Chancellor set out his Budget plans this afternoon, including his plans to extend furlough and rates relief.
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15.54 - Denied millions in vital relief at a critical time
Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of Greene King, also welcomed the Budget but said it posed a number of challenges.
Mackenzie explained: “While the business rates extension will help our tenants and smaller businesses, the £2m cap from the end of June, just nine days after planned full reopening, means larger businesses will be denied millions of pounds in vital relief at a critical time. This makes it more important than ever that the government stick
Business reaction to roadmap out of lockdown
By Ellie Pipe, Tuesday Feb 23, 2021
Boris Johnson has set the country on a “one-way road to freedom” but the horizon is still far away for businesses waiting to reopen.
The British Chambers of Commerce has welcomed the roadmap to recovery that enables companies to plan accordingly but warns the future of thousands of firms and millions of jobs hang by a thread as the impact of the Covid restrictions continues to be felt.
Hospitality businesses are among the worst hit – among the first to close in March 2020, many will have to wait until May 17 at the earliest before they can hope to reopen.
Many pubs will be unable to reopen outside and trade at a profit or lack a garden, costing the sector some £1.5bn, the BBPA said.
Restrictions such as the rule of six and table service are to continue until 21 June at the earliest, the Prime Minister outlined yesterday.
BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said it was imperative further support was issued for the sector at the 3 March Budget.
“The reality is debt is mounting and many pubs simply won’t be able to hold out to April or May and will close for good before any door gets open.
“The Prime Minister said he will not pull the rug out and do whatever it takes. We will hold both him and the Chancellor to this,” she said.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has been lambasted on social media for his ‘In Conversation’ series with TV chef Gordon Ramsay.
The Treasury released the video on Twitter as part of it’s
Plan For Jobs campaign, citing the topics discussed were how Covid-support measures had helped Ramsay’s businesses and how he produced a gameshow.
He said: “Time like this we will never get back again, in our careers, fingers crossed ever again and so I taught all the teams from day one in lockdown, get creative.
“Continue that stimulant, continue that search, that evolution. From daily Zooms to looking at a box of vegetables, delivered from the local farmer in Cornwall, I made all our teams dig deep for that level of innovation.