Yahoo Finance Pub chiefs say £13bn rescue package won’t ease winter misery
Rishi Sunak’s £13bn rescue plan will help protect 500,000 hospitality jobs but cannot prevent a winter crisis in the battered industry, bosses have said.
The Chancellor’s latest package is expected to stop thousands of lay-offs planned when furlough comes to an end later this month - but pub and restaurant chiefs warned that only a more business-friendly Covid regime can stave off disaster in the longer term.
Mr Sunak is offering cash grants to firms and more support for part-time workers in a desperate bid to prevent further economic collapse caused by efforts to fight off a second wave of coronavirus.
Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of pub chain Greene King, said the 10pm curfew and a ban on indoor socialising in most major cities is having a “crippling impact” on trade. He added: “This is not sustainable, particularly for our pubs in city centres which are becoming increasingly unviable.
Simon Emeny, head of rival Fuller’s, said: “Frankly, if we weren’t being forced to trade the way we are we wouldn’t need the support.”
Kate Nicholls of trade body UKHospitality said the increased support is a lifeline. She said: “It will make a material difference … I think this will have saved at least half a million jobs.”
But industry bosses warned the measures will come at a significant cost. The Treasury expects the measures to cost £13bn, but analysts at Citibank say it could be as high as £20bn. The new part-time scheme is open to all kinds of businesses, not just those in hospitality.
It came as new figures warned that almost a fifth of hotels and restaurants are on the brink of collapse. Just under 30pc of all UK businesses are at moderate or severe risk of insolvency with 17pc of accommodation and food services firms deemed in the most under threat category, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, warned the Chancellor’s measures are too little too late, with hundreds of thousands of jobs already lost.
He said: “The Government seems solely focused on restricting our ability to operate to suppress virus transmission through modelling worst case scenarios. But it needs to model the economic consequence of these restrictions too, as the damage to this sector is wreaking havoc on people’s lives.”
