The Chancellor today addressed the country’s burning questions as he discussed his fresh financial package in a Twitter Q and A session.
Rishi Sunak turned on the public spending taps again last week when he announced an emergency bailout for businesses and the self-employed that will cost up to £22billion.
But today he was grilled by members of the public who felt they’d been left in the dark ahead of what is set to be a gruelling winter for their businesses.
Mr Sunak was probed about ‘whose money the government was spending’ and asked what he will do to protect the livelihoods of those in the events industry.
Using the hashtag ‘#AskRishi’, people were invited to submit their question to the Chancellor.
Mr Sunak was probed about ‘whose money the government was spending’ and asked what he will do to protect the livelihoods of those in the events industry
The Chancellor was asked by Twitter user Sara Zigman, ‘Whose money are you spending?’
Mr Sunak responded: ‘Excellent question! The simple answer is, your money!’
He continued: ‘The government is not some entity that has its own money, the government only has money because people pay taxes and we borrow money – that’s how we fund what we do.
‘That’s why I’m careful with how we spend money. It’s why often I will say, look, we can’t do absolutely everything that people want.
‘There are obviously limits. We have done a lot this year, we have spent an enormous amount, we have borrowed an enormous amount on everyone’s behalf.’
The Chancellor added: ‘I never foresaw having to do anything like this when I got this job.’
Kerry Marriott, from Yorkshire, asked the Chancellor: ‘I’d love to ask Rishi when my job will be included in a support scheme.
‘As a sole trader I don’t have any employees, but my job needs support.
‘I’ve been in business two years and don’t have an employer, why is my job treated differently and denied access to the JSS and SEISS?’
Sunak answered: ‘So Kerry you are right the Job Support Scheme (JSS) is not for you but the Self Employment Income Support Scheme is there for those who are self-employed sole traders such as yourself.
‘The good news is that we’ve announced also that there are going to be further grants for the self employed scheme.
‘And now that we’ve extended our support for those who are in employment through the JSS we want to try and mirror the amount of support we give to those who are employed, to those who are self-employed. And that’s how we figure out the grant value to make sure that there’s broad parity between two groups of people.’
He continued: ‘The other thing to say is that there’s lots of other support available for small businesses like yours, which I hope you’re taking advantage of – whether that’s if you own a business property you may have received a cash grant.
‘You may be having a business rates holiday for this entire year or you may have been able to access some of the VAT deferrals that we’ve put in place that have been really valuable for cash flow and importantly our Bounce Back loan programme, over a million small businesses like yours have accessed these government backed loans.
‘Hopefully that’s all helpful but the good news is self-employment grants have been extended and the third grant will come out towards the end of the year.’
Josh Skorczewski asked: ‘Why are we over a week into tier 3 local restrictions with still no support at all for businesses who have closed or lost most of their work due to the restrictions?’
Sunak replied: ‘Well I think at the moment the support is available through the current furlough scheme, the CJRS, that runs until the end of this month and then the Job Support Scheme takes over from the first of November. So there’s total continuous coverage there to help support the wages of employees.’
He added: ‘If you’re formally closed you will get a grant of up to £3,000 per month that you are closed and that will be scaled depending on your relatable value.’
Lisa Gold asked: ‘Question on JSS Open: can one director limited companies use this for the director when have reduced demand and how does a director work out usual working hours?’
Con O’Neill asked Sunak: ‘Hi Rishi how is not discriminatory to put a £50,000 cap on the self employed but not in PAYE ?’
Gary Langlands, who works in the events industry, said: ‘We have been unable to work since March and not eligible for hardship grants or any further grants PLUS no furlough from 1st November.
‘We can’t work due to gatherings restrictions so no 20% from new JSS. £84bn sector and 1.5m people in sector!’
As he pointed towards the support scheme, Mr Sunak responded: ‘I know how difficult a time this is for your industry, and what an amazing industry it is.
‘We all are looking forward to a time when we’re thriving again with events and conferences, festivals etc – I think that will be a great day.’
Last week, Mr Sunak announced his emergency bailout to keep business afloat and head off a jobs bloodbath this winter.
Allison Logan asks: ‘Why have you not made sure that banks and other lenders continue with payment holidays that don’t affect your credit file when lockdowns are still on going and restrictions in place and people only earning 2/3 of wages how do you expect them to pay 100% of bills.’
Arash Riasatian asked: ‘I’m sure those in hospitality on full time contracts appreciate the new JSS, but me as a zero hour employee who actually worked more hours that the full timers are not included, the company I work for is keeping everyone, just those on zero hour are left out, what should we do???’
The Chancellor’s fresh financial package was hailed a lifeline for firms under Tier 2 lockdowns such as London which were previously ineligible for Government support.
In a statement to the House of Commons, he unveiled the three-pronged funding blizzard.
Mr Sunak said grants of up to £2,100 a month will be offered to Tier 2 companies that are not forced to close but are struggling to be commercially viable.
Some 150,000 businesses are estimated to qualify for the payments, which could cost the Treasury £1.2billion.
The Job Support Scheme, which will replace furlough, will be extended to firms that are legally allowed to open.
It will be made more generous so employers will only have to pay 5 per cent of staff wages, while the minimum threshold for hours worked will be slashed to just one day.
If two million people enroll, the pledge could cost the Treasury £6billion.
The Chancellor today addressed the country’s burning questions as he discussed his fresh financial package in a Twitter Q and A session
Finally, Mr Sunak increased grants given to self-employed workers to 40 per cent of the average profits, up to a maximum of £3,750 a month, which could cost about £3billion.
The Chancellor prepared to dip deeper into the Treasury’s coffers as Government borrowing was revealed to be running at £1billion a day during the pandemic.
Explaining why he has been forced to introduce extra measures just weeks after setting out his winter economy plan, Mr Sunak told MPs that even businesses which can stay open are facing ‘profound economic uncertainty’.
The Chancellor said hospitality chiefs have given a clear message that ‘the impact of the health restrictions on their businesses is worse than they hoped’.
In the Commons, Mr Sunak acknowledged the strain the second wave of the virus had placed on communities living under coronavirus curbs and warned of ‘difficult days and weeks ahead’.
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