CONCERN is mounting over the impact Plan B Covid restrictions are having on hospitality and small businesses as pressure increases on the government to do more.

Since Boris Johnson announced the Plan B restrictions on December 8, many hospitality venues have seen people cancelling festive bookings in their droves.

Read more: 'It doesn't feel like Christmas' - Hospitality hit by wave of cancellations

And the situation worsened when on Wednesday Professor Chris Whitty told the public to prioritise events that “really matter to them” over the festive period, in an effort to curb the spread of the Covid Omicron variant.

While Mr Johnson stopped short of matching England’s chief medical officer’s warning, he did urge people to ‘think carefully’ before attending celebrations.

This led to a further wave of Christmas party cancellations for a hospitality industry that was banking on a bumper festive period after the lockdowns of last year.

The Northern Echo:

An eerily quiet Newcastle Christmas Market 

Jonathan Walker, policy director at the North East England Chamber of Commerce, said there now needs to be more clarity on how businesses can operate safely in the wake of the Plan B restrictions.

He added: “It is also so important that there is support available for businesses such as those in the hospitality sector who have had such a tough year.

“Christmas is an important time for all of them and our members report substantial cancellations which leave them with unsold, perishable stock.

“At the Chamber we offer our members advice on what limited schemes are available for them to get through this difficult and challenging time but there is not nearly enough being done.

“Government really has to step up and support people.”

Read more: New Year's Eve fireworks CANCELLED amid growing fears over Covid and omicron

Reshma Begum, of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in the North East, said to help firms with ‘spiralling costs’, the government should increase the current 66 per cent business rates discount for hardest-hit firms to 100 per cent.

She said coupling that with an increase in the targeted Employment Allowance to £5,000 ‘would make a real difference’.

Ms Begum said: “The imposition of Plan B means a new set of rules for small firms to get across, and a further hit to already suppressed consumer demand for festivities, in an environment where high prices are already eroding returns.

“Despite that fact, business support measures have not been adjusted to reflect new realities.

“Many small businesses – especially those in the hospitality sector – which were thriving at the start of last year are now struggling to make ends meet because of a coalescing of factors beyond their control.”

She added: “This supposedly pro-enterprise government needs to step up.”

The Northern Echo:

Rishi Sunak

Meanwhile Chancellor and Richmond MP Rishi Sunak has come under fire from Labour for jetting to California on an official trip, though it is understood he is now cutting the trip short.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Sunak should “get himself on a flight back and get a grip on the situation” and urged the Government to “hammer out a deal to help hospitality”.

Labour has also written to Mr Sunak urging him to provide more support for businesses facing “closure by stealth” amid rising Covid fears.

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