North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has today pleaded with the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates MS, to end the misery for North Wales Bed and Breakfast Businesses who fear they will not survive the Covid-19 crisis without financial support.
Last week Mr Isherwood called on the Welsh Government to give Bed and Breakfast businesses the financial support they need amid the Covid-19 pandemic and was told by the Finance Minister that the Economy Minister “looks forward to making an announcement as soon as he is able to”.
Mr Isherwood had hoped the announcement would be made during today’s virtual Welsh Parliament Plenary meeting in the Minister’s Statement on “the response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)’, however this was not the case.
Therefore, challenging the Minister via ‘Zoom’ over support for B&Bs, Mr Isherwood said:
“In England, small Bed and Breakfast businesses are already eligible for a Business Grant, but the Welsh Government still excludes these businesses in Wales.
“Last week, the Finance Minister told me that you looked forward to making an announcement, but you have failed to do so today.
“How, therefore, do you respond to desperate bed and breakfast businesses in North Wales asking me to try and get answers from you, where they will otherwise have to decide whether to cease trading this month?”
In his response, the Minister blamed the UK Government for the funding not being available, stating: “the UK Government's announcement regarding small bed-and-breakfasts that pay council tax is based on an extra £617 million, of which I believe we have not seen a consequential, and so trying to replicate a scheme of that nature in Wales without UK Government funding would not be affordable.”
He also said: “Our financial resource is finite, and we have to use that money to keep businesses alive where it is a sole or majority income for the owners and for their employees. We won't be able to support all leisure businesses, I am afraid. We have to prioritise money to those businesses that need it the most.”
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Isherwood added:
“This Minister’s response was a masterclass in buck-passing and betrayal. The Welsh Government currently receives £12 for every £10 of new money announced by the UK Government for matters in England which are devolved to Wales, but the Welsh Government then decides how and where this is spent. When the UK Government announced its £617 million Top-up grant scheme for a range of bodies in England, this included small bed and breakfasts, but when the Welsh Government announced its equivalent £26 million package for a range of bodies in Wales, this excluded small bed and breakfasts.
“B&Bs are a mainstay of many local economies across North Wales, real small businesses providing essential income for their owners. As one of these said to me: “When all this is over and people are desperate to escape to North Wales, it would be a huge tragedy for those potential guests, the B&B and guesthouse owners, their employees and the whole economy of the area, if so many of us are no longer in business and able to welcome them. Where will the local residents who depend on the hospitality industry for work turn? How will shops, restaurants, attractions and other businesses who rely on the tourists, survive when fewer are able to stay? Tourism is an integrated industry with one part supporting the other and it is vital that we all survive this terrible event.”