Opponents play politics over grants

From: Coun Andrew Carter CBE, Leader of the Conservative Group, Leeds City Council.

I READ with interest your recent article about business grants being returned to the Government with comments from Ed Miliband, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary.

I’m sure readers will view comments by Mr Miliband with a degree of caution. To be clear, these government grants were given to help local businesses when the national lockdown began. The scheme was administered by councils. These grants were not meant to shore up a council’s own budget, so Mr Miliband’s suggestion that councils are being left to “sink or swim” is incorrect and unhelpful.

Let’s take Leeds City Council – it received £ 162m in statutory grants to be dispersed under specific criteria to businesses. Of that, £ 8m remains unspent.

What councils should be doing now is joining me in requesting that the Government allows us to keep the underspend on both funds on the strict condition that it is used for the purposes intended, and in particular targeted on help for the hospitality industry.

Once again I’m afraid some opponents of the Government seem only to want to play politics – and this is most unfortunate.

From: Mr RGN Webb, The

Grove, Hipperholme.

AS Covid- 19 shines a very harsh light on the UK, commentators are asserting that the ‘ local lockdown isn’t working’. Perhaps they could consider that without it, infection might be higher still.

Also, do people actually comply with it?

The virus thrives on social proximity so obviously our observance of social distancing is inadequate. In densely populated inner urban residential areas, often with multi- generational occupancy, transmission is difficult to curb even with vigilance – and we should sympathise.

However significant amounts of our recreational socialising is anti- social, involving drug abuse and alcohol consumption to the point of drunk and disorderly.

For non- compliance with social distancing, it is to these groupings we should be looking – added to protest marches, celebrating football fans and massed numbers of beach visitors. What is the Government doing? What are we doing? Where is the discipline and personal responsibility?

now are rebellious against any measures recommended.