MORE THAN 100 businesses - including the i360 and Snoopers Paradise - are asking for an extension to the business rates holiday. Restaurants, pubs, night clubs, hairdressers and cultural venues are among the Brighton and Hove businesses who “face a cliff edge” with business rates due again from April. British Airways i360, Hotel Pelirocco, Snoopers Paradise, The Chilli Pickle, Pavilion Gardens Café, and Green Door Store join more than 100 others in signing a letter to chancellor, Rishi Sunak.
The team at Green Door Store in Brighton The letter, created by Green MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas, calls on the chancellor to extend the holiday, which is due to end on March 31.
A national census of school and nursery pupils is due to take place on Thursday. The government has insisted that only those attending are counted at nurseries, while schools are permitted to count all registered pupils, including those learning from home. Official government guidance is for all nurseries is to stay open during the latest national coronavirus lockdown.
Brighton and Hove City Council went against this advice and closed all its nurseries on Thursday 7 January to all but vulnerable children and the children of key workers. The council’s head of early years and family support Caroline Parker told a meeting of the Schools Forum yesterday that it would affect funding this term and next term.
THE LAST-GASP Brexit deal was overwhelmingly backed by the Sussex MPs. Only two of the county’s MPs did not vote in favour of the new trade deal with the EU, which is set to come into force on January 1. The Conservatives, who represent 13 out of 16 constituencies in Sussex all backed the deal secured by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Christmas Eve. Boris has said that the UK is now “having its cake and eating it”. Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas was the only Sussex MP to oppose the deal. Earlier she launched a last-ditch attempt to oppose the deal, and said the agreement breaks promises made to voters at the last general election.