Chairman of the Independent Business Network, John Longworth, is rather miffed at the Government’s COVID response and is worried that it could kill off any pre-Christmas sales.
He said that the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) in conjunction with “a hysterical broadcast media” have created the perfect environment for a pre Christmas lockdown.
“If SAGE’s insistence on this new lockdown has the desired effect of reducing COVID infections in the short term then they will doubtless claim victory heralding themselves as the heroes of Christmas saved. Of course we may then never know that their machinations destroyed our economy and people’s mental and physical health for nothing, as avoiding lockdown would have had a similar but longer lasting effect. It’s telling, however, that even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has opposed further lockdowns describing them as a cruel and blunt tool with questionable scientific merit”, he said.
Longworth warned that the economy and businesses needed to recover rather than suffocating them. Doing otherwise risks long-term economic harm the unintended consequences of which will far outstrip and outlive those of Coronavirus.
“Government action to save the elderly is not cost free. It comes at the expense of younger generations who will be plagued by long-term joblessness, lower earnings and sustained periods of unemployment for the rest of their working lives. These measures also disproportionately affect the private sector and family owned businesses. It is only the private sector, not the public sector, that generates wealth. Family owned businesses constitute 83 percent of the businesses in the UK. Many of these lack the deep-pockets of their multinational cousins, who are better placed to weather the economic storm the Prime Minister is stirring”, he said.
