Businesses say they’re worried about Covid measures being toughened before Christmas.
It comes after the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said more restrictions could not be ruled out.
Business leaders said further reductions in their services would impact their workers and their long-term business plans.
Mr Javid told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that that we had to be “more cautious” as the virus was spreading rapidly, and there was still uncertainty around the new variant.
Some said the government needed to think about financial support once again for businesses and their people.
Christmas stall owners have told HRreview takings have been down since the Plan B announcements and other retailers say they’re worried about the impact of new restrictions.
Scientific advisers published their research on Saturday, which showed that current Plan B measures would see a peak of 3,000 hospital admissions in England per day.
Sajid Javid said: “There are no guarantees in this pandemic. At this point we just have to keep everything under review.”
The British Chambers of Commerce said its 800,000 members feel there should be no tightening of restrictions unless there is financial support from the government.
They were one of the groups who met with Chancellor Rishi Sunak last week.
Kate Nichols, the chief executive of UKHospitality, said having a fourth lockdown would not be good for some businesses due to the cost of closing down sites: “The damage to consumer confidence can be irreparable. We are already seeing an impact on bookings in January, February, even Easter.”
Meanwhile. Regarding Scotland’s plan to give businesses £66 million, UKHospitality Scotland Executive Director Leon Thompson said it would not go far with paying for staff and other expenses: “Whilst very welcome, (it is) going to have limited impact for a sector that has now hemorrhaged £1 billion over the last two weeks. Scottish Government officials now have the unenviable task of salami slicing a support package that is way too small and now unlikely to reach businesses until some point in January. Businesses with little or no cashflow are despairing.”
Feyaza Khan has been a journalist for more than 20 years in print and broadcast. Her special interests include neurodiversity in the workplace, tech, diversity, trauma and wellbeing.
