Tuesday, 14 April 2020

Ease the lockdown and we can still save business and jobs

CW
Meanwhile, as some of us forecast, the stringent policy of preventing many companies from trading and stopping many people working is having a hugely damaging effect on jobs, businesses, tax revenues and our capacity to supply ourselves beyond the essentials.   ....
When restrictions are eventually lifted, there will be far fewer companies and people able to respond. There will also be less demand, as the many people who have suffered financially from the closure period will not be able to pick up where they left off with discretionary spending.
So we now need a policy which still gives priority to protecting the elderly and vulnerable from the virus, whilst getting more companies trading and more people back to productive work.  .....We can only afford the NHS if we have a strong economy. Government schemes to pay companies and the self-employed some money in lieu of work cannot make up for the huge losses, and so far the schemes have proved slow to open and patchy in coverage. We need faster action to save jobs and business.

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