Support local economy but follow the rules

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent my time out and about in the constituency, visiting local businesses who have only recently reopened their doors following lockdown.

I’m doing so for two reasons: I want to promote local Stirling businesses as much as possible; and it’s crucial that, as the local MP, I use this time to listen to what the concerns and needs are for particular sectors of our economy.

I was in Callander, speaking to hospitality businesses about alterations to their premises so that they could open safely. I was in Dunblane, hearing from retail businesses about the measures they have taken to ensure that people can stay safe whilst they browse. And I was in Kippen, speaking to cafe owners about the measures they’ve taken to serve more people, whilst maintaining a safe social distance.

These measures aren’t just important in terms of keeping the spread of coronavirus at bay, but is vital in supporting economic recovery too. Members of the public rightly want to know that they’re in safe hands when they visit the local high street, and it remains the case that many people still just aren’t confident enough to get up and go out yet.

Hospitality businesses, retail shops, and other services have taken important steps to ensure that they can open and operate whilst minimising the risk of spreading the Covid-19 virus should another outbreak find its way into Stirling. Where businesses have fallen short of pubic expectations, constituents have been quick to flag such matters to me and others. For some businesses, it took time for them to realise just how busy or otherwise they were going to be. Getting staffing levels right is vital in the hospitality sector, and there’s the added strain of enforcing social distancing now too.

However, having seen many businesses in operation over the past few weeks, my message is this: if you can, go out and support our local economy. It is safe to do so, so long as we all follow the rules.

Last week, it was confirmed that the UK economy was officially in recession, following two consecutive quarters of negative growth. This was predicated by almost every economist as a result of effectively closing the economy for several months whilst we dealt with an unprecedented pandemic. I have welcomed some of the measures that the Chancellor announced earlier in the summer to help boost business, as far as it went.

The Eat Out to Help Out scheme, giving diners up to half off the price of their sit-in food, is undoubtedly popular, and hospitality businesses have really seen it impact the footfall over the door.

However, the reality of it is that it’s only available Monday to Wednesday throughout August, and it only benefits restaurants.

Many industries on our high street are struggling right now, with fewer people willing to venture out to support them. The UK government needs to devise a much longer term, more strategic plan for supporting all sectors.

We also need to see better targeted support for industries that are open, but aren’t fully operational. If the Chancellor was serious about supporting these businesses, he would rethink his opposition to ending the furlough scheme in October no matter what - which recent analysis suggests could needlessly cost millions of jobs.

And limited companies finally need to see equal treatment regarding supported wages. Many business owners and managers in the Stirling area, and across the UK, have not received the level of income support that their furloughed staff have; putting many people into real financial hardship.

As we move forward to the next few phases economic recovery within a new way of doing things, there are a lot of areas that the Chancellor needs to think about. No solution can be done on the cheap, but the cost of avoiding the problem will be far worse.