Today the chancellor put back the date when the UK will recover from the coronavirus crisis.
His measures are too complicated; too generous and open to fraud, and above all completely unnecessary because we should have had the balls to keep fighting and stick with the original plan of getting this country back to work.
Last week was the official anniversary of the Battle of Britain which is very appropriate since we are again in a dogfight to protect our country and everything, we’ve worked so hard to build as a nation. I’ve got lots to say about Rishi’s latest emergency measures, but mostly I think the real criticism needs to be aimed at our lack of courage at going head to head with the virus, come what may.
The chancellor’s latest package of relief measures is complicated. There will be some businesses that will be saved; while some will manage to struggle on for a few more months before collapsing in seven months, rather than in November when the original furlough ends. But there will also be thousands of businesses who find themselves so messed about by today’s complicated financial ‘rescue’ plan that they too may end up going to the wall.
History tells us that when plagues and disease hit, you must fight on, not hide away. What I have seen today from the chancellor is a ‘relief package’ that is only necessary because his Government didn’t have the stomach to stick to its original plan of getting the country back to work.
In the past when faced with killer diseases people kept going and got through, and by doing so they figured out new ways of living and doing business that worked. What we’re doing is just putting off the moment when we get to grips with the virus and can get on with our lives.
Charlie Mullins