No more platitudes – we need action before it’s too late

HUNG out to dry as collateral damage in the coronavirus crisis... if I were an entrepreneur, I would be incandescent. Of course, everyone understands that human life and health takes top priority and the concerns of businesses come a long way behind.

When Boris Johnson announced the latest round of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, warning people against socialising and going out to pubs and clubs, health was uppermost in his mind and rightly so.

But it is outrageous that the Prime Minister should have told people to stay away from the high street without putting in place practical help for the businesses that will suffer as a result.

To be fair, the new ‘Economic and Business Response Committee’ did meet last night to discuss what to do, but at this point we need action not more jaw-jaw.

As Gerry Ford, the founder of Caffe Nero, has said, what is needed now is a package of aid for firms to get them through these terrifying months.

Concrete measures ought to have included, at a minimum, a waiver on all tax and VAT payments for at least the next three months for retail and leisure companies.

And the business rate relief offered in the Budget to small firms should be extended to larger ones.

But the PM offered no such help. Worse than that, he burbled vague platitudes.

If my grandmother, who ran her own fish and chip shops, had heard him, she would have boxed his ears and told him to speak more clearly.

According to Boris, the economy will take a short-term hit but will ‘come roaring back’.

Great, except he neglected to say on what economic analysis he based this conclusion.

In any case, by the time the world economy does come ‘roaring back’, it will be far too late for the small firms that have already gone to the wall.

Their survival is measured in weeks, not months.

And when the Prime Minister says things like ‘if we get it right and if we get the right response and if we work together’ then the virus will be a short-term problem because the ‘fundamentals of the UK economy are very strong’, it resembles feel-good twaddle.

What does it mean to ‘get it right’? He doesn’t say.

What is the ‘right response’? He doesn’t seem to know.

And while the UK economy may indeed fundamentally be strong, it will be a whole lot weaker if the retail and hospitality industries are razed to the ground.

Boris’s attempt at international statesmanship also fell flat.

‘I think there is a widespread agreement amongst colleagues in the G7 that we are going to need to make sure everybody has access to liquidity,’ he said.

Well yes, firms need liquidity, or cash, to survive. But how will they make sure they have access? We are not told.

Then, ‘If we do things jointly then I think that the global markets will understand that we’re all really operating in the same sort of fiscal framework and I think we’ll be much more successful that way.’

Really? Global markets will have to work out what, if anything, this means before they feel the faintest reassurance.

BORIS’S penchant for airy statements is just not good enough in a crisis of this magnitude. Presumably, he will point to measures announced in last week’s Budget by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help small firms.

But if a week really is a long time in politics, imagine what it’s like in business.

Even before yesterday’s announcement, there has been carnage on the stock market in leisure and retail shares.

The Restaurant Group, which owns Frankie & Benny’s, lost nearly half its value yesterday. Pub chains JD Wetherspoon and Young’s are down 23 per cent.

There is no shame in worrying about money.

Be under no illusions over who will be most badly hurt in a high street shutdown. It is not just the big retailers, it is the small independent shops and cafes that give our towns their character.

Advising rather than ordering pubs, restaurants and theatres to close appears to have opened a dangerous loophole as insurance cover may not be valid.

Laying down the law may not be Boris’s style but he needs to be crystal clear. Any entrepreneur will want to know precisely what assistance they can expect.

Yet the best Boris could offer was vague promises.

The Conservative Party has a philosophical aversion to state support and bail-outs. Usually, that is sensible.

This is not about pandering to incompetent operators. It is about a helping hand to firms who will from today see trade vanish through no fault of their own.

Ministers will almost certainly bail out the airline industry and they should support the high street too. It has already been torpedoed by unfair competition from online operators.

The retail, leisure and hospitality sectors account for around six million jobs, many held by lowpaid people who can ill-afford unemployment.

Shopping and socialising are part of our culture. If we allow them to be destroyed by Covid19, we will be ripping the heart out of our town centres.

Boris Johnson is not responsible for the coronavirus, but he is responsible for how he tackles it.

So please, Prime Minister, don’t heap unnecessary financial misery on a frightened and traumatised nation.