Accounting for virus spending

Sir, – Throughout this pandemic, the UK Government, and more importantly, the chancellor, have ensured that businesses are well provided for to deal with the impact of the virus while being realistic in that the government will not be able to save every job.

The recent announcement by the chancellor that when a business is asked to close the job support scheme the government will cover two-thirds of employees’ wages puts the UK scheme in line with its European counterparts.

For those who may still be finding it hard, this amount can be topped up by universal credit, thus ensuring that no person is left to struggle through the impacts of the virus.

As well as the job support scheme, the chancellor announced that in England grants of up to £3,000 will be available for businesses that have to close.

This decision resulted in an extra £700 million being granted to the Scottish Government, which has already received £6.5 billion from the UK Government to deal with the impacts of the virus.

Given that the Scottish Government has received this additional funding, perhaps Kate Forbes, the Scottish Finance Secretary, can tell us why only £40m has been allocated to the hospitality sector giving it a much less generous support package than its English counterparts.

She also needs to provide the taxpayer with a breakdown of how the £7.2bn has been or will be spent.

This would clearly show the taxpayer that all money received from Westminster is going towards dealing with the virus and not being allocated elsewhere.

Mhairi E Rennie, Finlayson Street, Fraserburgh