Mayor of London calls for ‘urgent’ support to protect businesses through COVID19

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, called for urgent action to protectbusinesses in the heart of London’s West End in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Central London businesses are facing a ‘perfect storm’ of continued home working, restrictions on domestic and international tourism, and the requirement for continued social distancing for the foreseeable future until an operational vaccine is found. The New West End Company has forecast a loss of over £5 billion retail sales within the district this year, with one third of the retail and hospitality workforce potentially being made redundant by the end of this year.

The Mayor has written to the Prime Minister with eight proposals that would help secure the West End’s future survival. These are:

·       Confirm an extension to the business rates holiday, which is due to end in March, or a discount for businesses in the central London area for the next year, guaranteed now. Many large retail, leisure and hospitality businesses will take important decisions for 2021/22 in the coming weeks, so certainty over the business rates holiday is urgently needed.

·       Create a direct financial aid scheme for hospitality, retail, leisure and cultural businesses in central London.

·       Provide targeted support for jobs and the workforce extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for retail, hospitality, leisure, and creative businesses that will not be able to operate on a financially sustainable level under continued social distancing requirements.

·       Extend support for freelancers and the self-employed.  The cultural and creative industries that characterise central London are hugely dependent on these workers. 

·       Overhaul business rates, to create a fair playing field between physical and online retail.  A subsequent letter with more detailed demands will be forthcoming.

·       Introduce a support scheme for small and medium-sized businesses that are struggling to meet their rent bills due to coronavirus, which could help to ease negotiations between landlords and tenants in cases where rent is in arrears.

·       Prioritise investment in NHS Test and Trace and more support for hospitality businesses to implement systems.  It is now clear that we need to learn to live with the virus, and Test and Trace plays a large role in giving the public confidence.

·       Explore other measures which might increase public confidence, such as making face coverings compulsory in the busiest public spaces (as has been done in Paris), and commission further scientific research into the efficacy of such measures.

Recent City Hall polling shows that Londoners are still not travelling to central London; with 66 per cent of those surveyed saying they were unlikely to go in the next week.

Polling also shows that Londoners would be more comfortable heading into central London if face masks were used in a wider range of setting, and not just when inside shops and venues. It would bring health benefits and improve public confidence.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “For decades central London has been the economic engine of the UK, a cultural powerhouse, and a gateway for global tourism to the UK. But it now faces a real existential threat from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Until we have an operational vaccine in place social distancing will have to continue to protect people’s health, and with employers planning to continue home-working well into next year, the numbers of people visiting the West End will be reduced for many months ahead.

“As Mayor I’m doing all within my powers to help. This includes providing loans and funding directly to small businesses and ensuring TfL’s unprecedented range of safety and hygiene measures mean more passengers are now able to travel on London public’s transport network.

“But in the face of a perfect economic storm, our businesses need urgent and sustained support from Government to ensure they can survive this pandemic. This must include extending the business rates holiday beyond next March, in addition to a comprehensive package of new financial support.”