What has the reaction to these changes been?
Commentators and business experts generally welcomed these changes, although many noted that the government needs to go much further to properly protect UK businesses during this latest phase of the pandemic.
Unsurprisingly, the most vocal criticism came from the Labour party. Bridget Phillipson, the party’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury described the changes as “minor tweaks to a policy already more than 20 weeks old” and insisted that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is “clearly out of ideas when it comes to supporting hard-pressed businesses”.
Simon Cureton, the CEO of business finance marketplace Funding Options, struck a much more positive tone, saying “we welcome the Chancellor’s decision to give SMEs more breathing space to pay back the state-backed loans, as they navigate the obstacles this pandemic continues to present”. He also praised small businesses’ “unfaltering resilience in the face of adversity” but warned that “the long-term focus must be to wean them off these loan schemes” as, “the longer this goes on, the more it will negatively impact the delivery of a truly competitive lending market for SMEs”.
On social media meanwhile, reaction was dominated by those who feel excluded from the current financial support schemes, and people calling for the government-backed loans to be written off and turned into grants.
via https://www.AiUpNow.com
February 12, 2021 at 05:18AM by Alec Hawley, Khareem Sudlow
