Hope adds to case for help

Covid vaccines on the horizon

WITH HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock admitting it is too early to say whether England’s current lockdown measures will end after December 2 as coronavirus cases and deaths continue to climb, an already tough winter must be prevented from getting even bleaker for Yorkshire businesses and workers.

While in a best- case scenario the extent of lockdown may be adjusted back to the tier system from early December, new analysis published in The Yorkshire Post today highlights how every part of the region is suffering the economic consequences of coronavirus - with the young particularly hard- hit.

The county’s famously affluent ‘ golden triangle’ covering the area between Harrogate, York and North Leeds has seen the biggest fall in job vacancies in the region, while across Yorkshire almost 50,000 young people faced unemployment in the three months to September before the second wave of the pandemic began to take full effect. The Institute of Directors is now calling for more financial help for businesses particularly in the hard- hit tourism and hospitality sectors. While The Treasury is right to point out that billions has been spent on protecting jobs this year with measures like the furlough scheme and grants for businesses, the reality of the situation is many more businesses will go to the wall in the coming months without extra support.

As hopes grow that there will soon be multiple working vaccines - after one in development from US firm Moderna was found to be highly- effective as it final- stage trial continues - there is light at the end of the tunnel that coronavirus can be defeated and life can eventually get back to normal. There can now be greater certainty that further Government investment in the worst- hit sectors can be time- limited - helping to further make the case for nursing businesses and workers through this unprecedented period.