A leading South West business figure is urging the Government to scrap blanket national lockdowns and only impose restrictions on specific areas in future to avoid 鈥渃atastrophic鈥 damage to businesses.
Stuart Elford, chair of South West Chambers of Commerce, called the second national lockdown, for four weeks from November 5, a 鈥渧ery blunt tool鈥 to tackle the increase in coronavirus infections, and said a much more targeted 鈥渟urgical intervention鈥 is required.
He has written to all Devon鈥檚 MPs to say locking down England until December 2 will cause West Country businesses to fail and jobs to be lost.
Before Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed the four-week national lockdown from November 5, the South West was in the lowest Tier 1 of restrictions with a 鈥渕edium鈥 Covid alert level. But it is now being treated the same as areas previously classed as a Tier 3 鈥渧ery high鈥 alert level.
In a firmly-worded letter to MPs, Mr Elford, who has , said the second lockdown must now be used to hone a reliable test and trace system.
In his letter Mr Elford, also chief executive of Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, stressed his organisations represented tens of thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of employees, and called businesses 鈥渢he lifeblood of our economy鈥.
He wrote: 鈥淲hile the rising rate of infections means that action needs to be taken, we need to use this latest lockdown to improve test, track and trace and to ensure that any future restrictions are targeted at the individual environments in which the virus is being transmitted, rather than geographic blanket restrictions.
鈥淪uch restrictions are catastrophic to my members, will cause businesses to fail and lead to mass unemployment, which will damage the economy and reduce revenue to the Treasury in the long term.鈥
He added: 鈥淪cience needs to be applied to establishing where infections are being transmitted. Where there is no suggestion that a particular sector or type of premises/business is causing transmission of the virus, these should be allowed to stay open.
Sign up to get FREE South West business news straight to your inbox
BusinessLive South West is your home for business news in Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.
You can sign up to receive FREE daily morning news bulletins from the region and we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
How to contact William Telford and Business Live
Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
To contact William: Email: william.telford@reachplc.com - Phone: 01752 293116 - Mob: 07584 594052 - Twitter: - LinkedIn: - Facebook:
Stay in touch: BusinessLive newsletters have been re-designed to make them even better. We send morning bulletins straight to your inbox on the latest news, views and opinion in the South West. Get our breaking news alerts and weekly sector reviews too. Sign up now - it's free and it only takes a minute. To sign up for Business Live's daily newsletters click .
And visit the Business Live South West LinkedIn page
鈥淲idespread testing with rapid turnaround of results will also allow everyone to remain working, productive and supporting people and the economy rather than being a financial drain on it. The private sector can supply and support this.鈥
Mr Elford called the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention 鈥渇urlough鈥 Scheme 鈥渧ery welcome鈥 and said it will save individual jobs.
But he said: 鈥淏usinesses have fixed overhead costs that will not be covered by the latest grants. Business reserves are severely depleted from the previous lockdown and from spending thousands on making their operations Covid-secure.
鈥淣o amount of support is preferable to an open and functioning economy. We need a long-term strategy to live with the virus rather than repeated short-term catastrophic interventions that are damaging to business and people鈥檚 mental health.鈥
He concluded with the plea: 鈥淥n behalf of the business community which you also represent I implore you to use your influence to bring about these essential improvements.鈥
