Apology after Covid business loans claim
I would never intentionally mislead anyone but I apologise if anyone was misled by what I said Coun Ged Bell
ONE of Newcastle’s most senior councillors has been forced to apologise after wrongly claiming that the city council was not offering any Covid loans to struggling businesses – despite the existence of a controversial £5m fund.
Labour councillor Ged Bell had to backtrack after appearing to either deny or be unaware of Newcastle City Council’s emergency Covid Rescue Loans Fund, which has become a source of controversy after being established last summer to save “essential” Tyneside culture and leisure venues from going under due to the impact of lockdown.
The fund has been called into question as the only two businesses to benefit so far have been the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which had already been propped up by almost £30m in council loans since 2013, and leisure centre operator GLL, whose £1.6m share of the fund has not been enough to prevent the indefinite closure of several venues, including the West Denton Pool.
Council bosses only made the £5m available to organisations that had an “existing financial relationship” with the local authority and whose collapse would pose a risk to the council’s own finances.
At Wednesday night’s council budget meeting, the Liberal Democrat opposition proposed repurposing
the remaining £2.4m in the pot to support small local businesses instead.
But Coun Bell, Labour’s cabinet member for employment and culture, hit back by claiming incorrectly that the council “does not operate any Covid loans schemes” and refused to retract the comment when his error was pointed out.
He appeared to confuse the fund with the Additional Restrictions Grant scheme, which is money given to councils by the government to distribute to local businesses, or the Bounce Back Loan Scheme administered by banks.
Colin Ferguson, the Lib Dems’ deputy leader, said the comment was either “deliberately misleading” or a “clumsy error”, with the opposition calling on Coun Bell to consider resigning his post. Coun Ferguson added: “That the cabinet member for employment and culture didn’t appear to know about his own council’s support scheme for culture and leisure venues in the city is nothing short of shocking.
“It’s hardly an obscure scheme and our reference to it wasn’t ambiguous.
“The Covid-19 Rescue Loans Fund is a well-reported matter of public record, and it would worry me immensely if he isn’t aware of it.”
On Thursday, Coun Bell issued an apology.
He said: “During the debate I assumed the opposition’s amendment related to bank loans to businesses, and not the council’s loans fund.
“I went on to say the council did not operate any Covid loans scheme. I should have made it clear that was in relation to loans for businesses the council did not have an existing relationship with.
“I would never intentionally mislead anyone, but I do apologise if anyone was misled by what I said.”