Warwickshire business leaders welcome chancellor's support for firms during Coronavirus outbreak

Rishi Sunak announced a package of measures including grants and loans in excess of £300 billion to help support the economy in light of the raft of social changes that have been announced to tackle the virus.

The package included help for large businesses and SMEs, changes in the rate relief outlined in last week’s budget and targeted assistance for the leisure and hospitality industries.

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the Chancellor’s promise to ‘do whatever it takes’ and said Chambers across the country were feeding in real-life examples of where businesses need help.

She said: “These are unprecedented steps from the Chancellor and from the Government and businesses across the patch will welcome the vow that they will do whatever it takes to support the economy.

“Prior to today’s announcement from the Chancellor, we had already been speaking to banks about how they can support companies and working with partners across the region to ensure firms can access help.

“The Government said it will work quickly to get support in place as soon as possible and we will be monitoring that very closely on behalf of businesses across the region. The key is getting money to the businesses on the front line as fast as possible.

“It’s vitally important that companies who may never have asked for support before come forward if they need assistance at this time. We have to get through this and it’s vitally important that businesses are in a position to get the economy moving forward again once we do.

“We also want businesses to come forward with their own individual issues that may not yet have been considered by Government as we are feeding those in through the British Chambers of Commerce.”