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Chancellor Rishi Sunak reassures community that security funding will continue
Speaking to the JC, the Chancellor gives pledge to the community that business and charity schemes will help their survival
April 30, 2020 13:57
Speaking to the JC, the Chancellor gives pledge to the community that business and charity schemes will help their survival
April 30, 2020 13:57Chancellor Rishi Sunak has dismissed fears that the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic could lead to cuts to spending on security for synagogues, Jewish nurseries and schools after the coronavirus crisis.
Speaking to the JC this week, the 39 year-old MP for Richmond stressed that the government remains "wholly committed" to protecting current spending levels on Jewish community security.
The Chancellor pledged that he would "make sure" that the government's doubling of spending on the Places of Worship Protection Scheme would be unaffected by restraints on spending as a result of the impact of Covid 19 on the economy.
He said that the government had pledged to increase spending for Jewish security to £14million for "a very specific reason. We remain wholly committed to those funding streams because they provide important security for people."
The Chancellor, who has been a speaker at previous Conservative Friends of Israel events, also defended the government's package of £750 million of support for charities at a time when many of the main Jewish organisations have said they are struggling. "Obviously their income streams have been hit," said the Chancellor, "and that is why we want to preserve and support them.
He added that Jewish charities "play an incredibly important part in the social fabric of this country."
Mr Sunak told the JC that he is convinced that the 100 per cent state-backed loans for small firms he unveiled this week will help ease concerns within the community about slow access to existing coronavirus rescue schemes.
After acknowledging that a significant number of small businesses - including many operating within the Jewish community - were being prevented from receiving immediate cash support by demands for future income projections from banks, Mr Sunak said firms can now apply for loans of up to £50,000 if they can demonstrate they were viable before the Covid-19 crisis via a two-page self-certification form online.
The loan terms mean that no capital or interest repayments will be due for one year. Instead, the government will pay the interest for the first 12 months.
Reflecting on his background as the son of a doctor and pharmacist of Indian origin who migrated to the UK via Africa, he said: "It is important to look back at this moment in history and say this country did all that it could do together for each other at this time."
The Chancellor, who replaced Sajid Javid in February, stressed that his Bounce Back Loan Scheme for small businesses was a direct response to criticism that slow emergency lending was leaving small businesses struggling.
"I want to reassure JC readers. We were hearing from people applying for the loan scheme that banks were asking for a lot of forwards looking projections - cash flow in the future and clearly that is very tricky right now," he said.
"We listened to the feedback and worked on fixing it. With the Bounce Back Loan we wanted to have a very simple standardised product that did not have to requite the banks to do any complicated checks which just slows down things for everyone."
With many businesses operating in the Jewish community located in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, the Chancellor also stressed the availability of the government's furlough scheme which can relieve a firm of any outlay in a time of crisis. "Not only do we pay the staff, we also pay the employers national insurance and pension contributions," he said.
