Furlough scheme could be extended until the summer

In next month’s Budget the Chancellor is expected to announce keeping the furlough scheme going until the summer and prolonging the business rates holiday for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.

Business rates relief was due to end next month and in an attempt to prevent a surge in joblessness while the UK races to vaccinate its population, the furlough scheme will be kept in place until the summer before being phased out.

The news which was first reported by the Financial Times will come as a relief to the hospitality sector which is bracing itself to be the last industry to fully open as the government sets out its road map out of lockdown.

Mr Sunak is expected to leave the more significant tax rises he is considering to his next major fiscal statement in November, when the economy may be in better shape if there are no further lockdowns.

It was also announced today that The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, plans to invest £5m to support the eventual reopening of central London, including a brand-new drive to attract visitors – including Londoners and tourists from the rest of the UK –back to hard-hit retail, hospitality and cultural venues. He believes that the safe reopening of Central London will be fundamental to the long-term future prosperity of the capital.

He said: “I am determined to do everything I can to help our great city recover as quickly as possible from this appalling pandemic.

“Crucial to that will be the safe reopening of central London and attracting Londoners and domestic visitors back to our amazing restaurants, pubs, cultural venues and of course our major shopping districts like Oxford and Regent Street and Covent Garden.”