Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Business leaders say ‘lockdown not an option’
A BUSINESS umbrella group has warned “lockdown is not an option”.
Trade NI, the alliance of Hospitality Ulster, Manufacturing NI and Retail NI have urged the Executive to avoid a widespread shut down.
Representing sectors which employ 300,000 staff, they say a lockdown will cripple the economy and potentially set it back decades.
In a joint statement it said:
“We recognise the challenge facing the Executive is immense as they try to navigate a safe way to suppress the spread of Covid-19.
“The current support offer for businesses from Westminster and Stormont doesn’t come close to what is needed to protect jobs – those who are required to self-isolate; and support businesses in the event of a second lockdown.
“The risk is that it will cause economic devastation, resulting in tens of thousands of job losses.
“No effective help is being offered to those businesses that will be forced to close as a result of a loss of trade, footfall and consumers, nor those who will lose their incomes.
“The viability of business is important to keep people in work at a time when the unemployment count in the last six months has doubled. If predictions are correct, we could expect a further 40,000 redundancies before Christmas, potentially more.
“As an alliance of the three largest sectors of industry and the majority of businesses here, collectively we see first-hand the anxiety and fear in so many who have put everything into their businesses and who are frightened for the future and for the livelihoods of the people they employ.”