Rishi Sunak’s ‘insulting’ £6,000 support for Covid-hit hospitality
Chancellor’s £1bn aid package ‘a dud cracker’, business leaders claim

Rishi Sunak has been blasted by business leaders after the announcement of a financial support package for companies hit by the emergence of the Omicron variant.
The government will provide one-off grants of up to £6,000 for impacted hospitality businesses, with other measures including the reintroduction of the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme and further funding released through the Culture Recovery Fund.
An additional £30m will be allocated through the emergency fund to help theatres and museums as part of what Sunak described as a “generous” package of grants.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“The spread of the Omicron variant means businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors are facing huge uncertainty at a crucial time,” he said, adding: “It is important to remember we have support already in place that lasts all the way to next spring”.
Tim Rumney, chief executive of Best Western Hotels, was among the business leaders that criticised the plan, describing “Rishi’s support” as “a dud cracker on Christmas Day”.
“It’s just so disappointing and underwhelming in every sense,” he added.
Michael Kill, head of the Night Time Industries Association, said the aid package was “far too little and borders on the insulting”, adding that “mixed” government messaging in the run-up to Christmas has had a “catastrophic impact” on nightclubs and venues.
Des Gunewardena, who runs the D&D restaurant chain, told the Daily Mail that £6,000 would not even cover his restaurants’ Christmas decorations, warning that “many of our larger restaurants lost £100,000-plus from cancellations last week”.
“It's the same again this week and heaven knows what's going to happen to our New Year's Eve,” he said
Roger Baker, policy director at the Institute of Directors, said the support will be “welcome relief” to many businesses but warned that “businesses also need the reassurance that these measures will now last for longer into 2022”.
The travel sector also accused the government of leaving them “in the cold”, Sky News reported, with Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, telling the broadcaster: “It is devastating to see that once again business travel and its supply chain have been left out of government financial support.
“A vital part of the UK economy and the driver behind global Britain is being left in the cold”, he said, adding that Sunak should “correct this oversight and support our industry into 2022”.
To some, Sunak’s latest aid funding “was bold”, said The i news site’s chief political commentator Paul Waugh. But “to others it was the bare minimum”.
Whatever way the funding is sliced, the plan feels “very provisional, a stop-gap measure as the government braces itself for new data on the severity of illness caused by the Omicron variant”.
The danger for Sunak is that the measure “risks him looking like a chancellor who wants a lockdown on the cheap”, Waugh added.
And while that may play well with his fellow Conservative MPs, “it’s the public that ultimately matters most”.
This warning was echoed by BBC business editor Simon Jack, who said the chancellor was “at pains to point out that this level of grant funding was similar in generosity to those given during lockdown”.
The focus on previous allocations of funds is “a hint perhaps that this is as good as it gets – for grant funding at least”.
The biggest problem facing business is “the ongoing uncertainty” over Covid restrictions, he added. “And with Covid-19 that is something over which the chancellor has little control.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What does 'conquering' Gaza mean to Israel?
Today's Big Question Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet has approved a plan to displace much of the Palestinian population while seizing and occupying the territory on a long-term basis.
-
Casey Means: the controversial 'wellness influencer' nominated for surgeon general
In the Spotlight Means has drawn controversy for her closeness to RFK Jr.
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney post
speed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
'There is a certain kind of strength in refusing to concede error'
instant opinion 'Opinion, comment and editorials of the day'
-
'Most Americans have never heard of the Office of Net Assessment'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Has Starmer put Britain back on the world stage?
Talking Point UK takes leading role in Europe on Ukraine and Starmer praised as credible 'bridge' with the US under Trump
-
'What Americans really need is access to safer products'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Left on read: Labour's WhatsApp dilemma
Talking Point Andrew Gwynne has been sacked as health minister over messages posted in a Labour WhatsApp group
-
Unprepared for a pandemic
Opinion What happens if bird flu evolves to spread among humans?
-
New Year's Honours: why the controversy?
Today's Big Question London Mayor Sadiq Khan and England men's football manager Gareth Southgate have both received a knighthood despite debatable records
-
Jay Bhattacharya: another Covid-19 critic goes to Washington
In the Spotlight Trump picks a prominent pandemic skeptic to lead the National Institutes of Health