We are now in the seventh week of lockdown. I am expecting
the Government to publish more details of how it plans to start easing the
lockdown shortly after the Prime Minister announced last week that we are now
past the peak of the pandemic.
However we must balance the need to ease the lockdown with
ensuring that we do not get a ‘second wave’ of the virus, which could put us
back to square one in terms of dealing with it.
My team and I have been working flat out to support
hard-working businesses in Truro and Falmouth during the COVID-19 crisis. I
have been pleased to see the Government listening to feedback from me and other
MP colleagues and at released additional funding to support businesses who have
not been able to access it until now.
Up to an additional £617 million of funding will be made
available to local authorities in England to assist with small businesses that
have not already been able to access business rates support. This will support
many businesses such as those at the Innovation Hub and B&B’s currently not
eligible for Business Rates and I look forward to working with them and
Cornwall Council to make sure they get this support quickly.
Earlier this week I also welcomed confirmation from the
Government at the weekend that hundreds of local business partnerships across
England will share £6.1m of funding to spend on projects that will help their
local economies through the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic.
This money will be paid to local authorities and dispersed
to Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). These are local business partnerships
that bring developers and communities together to provide local leadership,
drive regeneration and deliver projects and additional local services.
We have excellent BIDs in Truro and Falmouth and I was
pleased to work with them to make the sensible case for additional funding from
the Government at this time. I am delighted that my Ministerial colleagues have
listened and know this funding will make a big and positive difference to our
town centres. I look forward to seeing the detail of the funding and for it
deployed and put to work helping the business communities in our towns.
Finally, tomorrow we will be celebrating the 75th
Anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day where we celebrate the day the Allied
Powers received the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, ending the
European front of the Second World War. We have a Bank Holiday to mark the
occasion but due to lockdown all of the public events to celebrate have been
cancelled. I hope we will do all our bit in our households to remember the
sacrifice so many made so we could live free today, and it is good to see the
Blitz Spirit return as our communities continue to rally in a time of
adversity.
Thanks to everyone for your ongoing efforts and until next week,
stay safe and stay at home wherever possible!
My team and I are here to help during this crisis. You can
email me at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, call me on 0207 2193713
(messages will be picked up), and my website www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk and
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thisischerilyn are all regularly updated
with matters relating both to the current crisis and other useful news and
information. Please do get in touch if you need any help or have questions for
me.
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