Sadiq Khan Pens Letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson Outlining Eight Steps to Revive London Business

Evening Standard has reported that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has penned a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, outlining eight steps that need to be taken in order to revive London business in the wake of the global health crisis.

Read the full story HERE.

His eight proposals are:

• Confirm an extension to the business rates holiday, which is due to end in March, or a discount for businesses in the central London area for the next year, guaranteed now. Many large retail, leisure and hospitality businesses will take important decisions for 2021/22 in the coming weeks, so certainty over the business rates holiday is urgently needed.
• Create a direct financial aid scheme for hospitality, retail, leisure and cultural businesses in central London.
• Provide targeted support for jobs and the workforce extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for retail, hospitality, leisure, and creative businesses that will not be able to operate on a financially sustainable level under continued social distancing requirements.
• Extend support for freelancers and the self-employed. The cultural and creative industries that characterise central London are hugely dependent on these workers.
• Overhaul business rates, to create a fair playing field between physical and online retail. A subsequent letter with more detailed demands will be forthcoming.
• Introduce a support scheme for small and medium-sized businesses that are struggling to meet their rent bills due to coronavirus, which could help to ease negotiations between landlords and tenants in cases where rent is in arrears.
• Prioritise investment in NHS Test and Trace and more support for hospitality businesses to implement systems. It is now clear that we need to learn to live with the virus, and Test and Trace plays a large role in giving the public confidence.
• Explore other measures which might increase public confidence, such as making face coverings compulsory in the busiest public spaces (as has been done in Paris), and commission further scientific research into the efficacy of such measure

Read the full story HERE.