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CLH Digital
Issue 61
Editor's Viewpoint
Welcome to the latest issue of CLH DIGITAL “Never make an excuse for going to the pub, save it for leaving.” BENNY BELLAMACINA We are 10 days away from our “Freedom Day” - the day we were due to lift all Covid restrictions. However, the mind games are continuing, and the question on everybody’s lips is “will June 21 lifting of all restrictions actually happen”? The usual suspects are calling for lockdown to be extended - as always from a position of complete job, salary and pension safety! They neither suffer the hardships the rest of the population do, nor for that matter do they suffer the same restrictions that they want to impose on us all!
EDITOR
Peter Adams
Observers are predicting a two-week extension taking us up to July 5.
How businesses are expected to plan order and maintained stock, instigate staff rotas etc, all the normal things will do when planning to reopen their business with the threat that literally just days before the government can move the goalposts utterly ludicrous. There is a headline in today’s news that “Pfizer Jab Shortage May Delay June 21st lockdown”. Hands up who didn’t see that coming? I could have thought up that headline a month ago! The sector needs to reopen! The Prime Minister must pick to his roadmap and remove all restrictions on June 21. In February Boris Johnson said lockdown dependent upon “Four Tests”, the statement set out these tests: • The vaccine deployment programme continues successfully. • Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated. • Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS. • Our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new Variants of Concern. And from what I can gather at today’s date (11th June) not one of the above 4 tests have been compromised. “Ergo” the government currently has no reason to delay lockdown.
The currently appears to be no opposition to the extension of lockdown and I see that see the Labour party has today called further financial support should lockdown be delayed. To be fair, the government has supported the sector throughout the pandemic. The main support programmes currently in place are business rates relief; the cut in the VAT rate from 20 percent to 5 percent; the rent moratorium, which protects businesses from eviction; and the furlough scheme. The coronavirus business loan scheme and grants and local authority funding announced by Rishi Sunak at the start of this lockdown also remain open. All welcome and sensible support for an industry forced to close down. However, the VAT cut will remain at 5 percent only until October, before going up to 12.5 percent for another six months, and then returning to 20 percent. The business rates relief only continues until the end of this month (June 2021), and then be discounted to 33.3 percent of pre-pandemic levels until March 2022, up to £2 million. The furlough scheme currently ends on 30 September 2021, and the rent moratorium and associated protections currently end on 30 June 2021. For those of us living in the real world lockdown extension simply mean that businesses will not have the opportunity to recoup any of the losses and will likely incur more. So on the extremely disappointing possibility that lockdown will be extended I would support Labour’s call overwhelmingly to extend support. On a side note thankfully some summer football! England kick off tonight and I know where I will be watching it. A great sports bar less than a 10 minute walk from where I live! (Gets busy, mind, so I will have to get in early)!!!
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EDITOR Peter Adams
SALES EXECUTIVES David Bartlett Guy Stephenson
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