Boris Johnson on the backfoot on local government rows, funding delays
Boris Johnson has been forced to defend the government’s efforts in providing support for businesses under new Covid restrictions and its dealings with regional governments.
Rishi Sunak was forced today to extend its support for businesses under Tier 2 restrictions, with more than £10bn spent to support the private sector.
Businesses will only need to pay five per cent of workers’ unworked hours under the new part-time Jobs Support Scheme instead of 33 per cent as before.
Workers will also only have to work 20 per cent of their normal hours to be eligible for the scheme and not 33 per cent as before.
Businesses in the hospitality, accommodation and leisure sector will also get £2,100 for each month they are under Tier 2 or Tier 3 Covid restrictions, even if they are not closed, and they will be retrospective back to August.
Johnson faced a barrage of questions this afternoon about why it took the government so long to extend the support considering that Northern areas had faced extra restrictions for so long.
Some people speculated that the new support only came now, because London was put into Tier 2 one week ago.
“What we’re trying to do now is address a national issue, because since the virus has started to come again there has been much more concern, particularly amongst the business community, particularly around protecting jobs and livelihoods because of the effects of the virus,” Johnson said.
The Prime Minister was also pushed on why he would not give Greater Manchester mayor Andy Bunrham the extra £5m he was requesting in his negotiations about going into Tier 3 this week when Sunak was preparing to spend an extra £10bn today.
“The negotiations between regional leaders and metro mayors is all about fairness, that’s what that discussion was about – it was about the same package,” Johnson said.
“We’ve had great conversations with local leaders, mayors and others in Liverpool, in Lancashire, in Yorkshire, in the West Midlands, London and everybody has come to the table, shown leadership stepped up to the plate and agreed to help bring the R down.”