Chancellor Rishi Sunak came to the rescue of worried business this evening as he announced his Coronavirus Job Retention scheme.
The scheme will pay 80% of the wages of retained workers up to £2,500 a month.
This will be as long as companies do not lay off employees or make them redundant.
Rishi Sunak said that companies could then top up their wages which would be paid by the government and said there would be no limit to this jobs retention fund.
It will be open initially for at least three months and be backdated to March.
“We said we would stand together with the British people and we meant it”, said Rishi Sunak.
“The first grants will be paid within weeks”.
He said he would also defer the next quarter of VAT payments payable by companies - a direct injection of over £30 billion.
The Chancellor told business: “We are lending unlimited sums of money for 12 months and we are providing cash grants of up to £25,000 - I am asking you to stand behind our workers.
“Please look at that support before laying any people off. I cannot promise you that no one will suffer hardship in the weeks ahead”.
And the prime minister said that from tonight, pubs, bars, nightclubs, gyms and restaurants must close.
Boris Johnson said: “Please don’t go out tonight - you may think you are invincible, but you can still get mild symptoms and be a carrier of the disease and pass it on to others.
“We are going to defeat this disease by a huge national effort.
“Bit by bit, day by day we are putting this country in a stronger position where we will be able to save literally thousands of lives.
“People who don’t deserve to die”.
And the prime minister told business: “We will support you like government has never done before. The speed of our eventual recovery depends on our collective responsibility to get on top of the virus now.”
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