East Yorkshire MP Sir Greg Knight welcomes Government Covid support for Yorkshire businesses

The Government has announced that £1 billion will be made available to support small businesses across England which have been most impacted by the winter surge in Coronavirus.

Businesses operating in hospitality and leisure will be eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000.

Local authorities will receive an extra £100 million in discretionary funding to support local businesses.

Organisations working in the cultural sector will be able to apply for assistance from a £30 million fund.

Sir Greg said: “This is one of the most important trading periods of the year for pubs and restaurants.

“However, this Christmas pubs will sell 37 million fewer pints and lose out on nearly £300 million in trade.

“This is roughly £6,000 for each pub during this holiday period.”

Information from Hospitality UK confirms that many businesses have already lost 40-60% of their December trade.

Pubs and restaurants across the UK have experienced cancellations and reduced footfall in what should be one of the busiest and festive times of the year.

Even though businesses are still trading, the Government has chosen to provide grants that match the monthly cash grants provided to hospitality businesses when they were fully closed earlier this year.

Although Sir Greg has warmly welcomed this he said that with the ongoing uncertainty the situation will need to remain under review.

He added: “We don’t yet know what the New Year will hold and what the full impact of the new Omicron variant of Covid will be.

“This help is most timely but more may still need to be done to help pubs and other hospitality venues survive in the winter months ahead.”