“We have not been able to help every single person in exactly the way they would have liked to be helped.” So said Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, last June, conceding that certain people were falling through the gaps of the Government’s extensive Covid-19 financial support package for businesses, employers, employees and the self-employed.
The Chancellor’s argument back then was that the rapid onset of the pandemic had forced the Government to move very quickly to put help in place. Sunak explained he had looked for mechanisms that would help as many people as possible, and as quickly as possible, in the face of the crisis.
Fair enough. But six months later, the Chancellor continues to refuse to address the plight of those who missed out. And to be clear, we are not talking about a small number of people here. More than 3 million Britons, for one reason or another, do not qualify for any of the business support that the Chancellor is offering.
There are three…
