Almost Three-Quarters of A Million Businesses ‘at Risk of Failure over Next Three Months’, UK Economists Warn - Tasnim News Agency

(Tasnim) – Almost three-quarters of a million businesses in the UK are “at risk of failure over the next three months” because of the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, economists have warned.

The figure has prompted Labor calls for the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to ease the pressure by allowing bosses to convert government loans to a “student-style” arrangement that would give them more time to repay.

Firms are being dragged down by more than £75bn of Covid debt from the government’s bounce-back loan scheme and similar initiatives, Labor said, The Independent reported.

• But the Treasury watchdog has estimated that £27.2bn of these liabilities will never be repaid – inflicting a huge cost on the taxpayer, on top of the loss of jobs and livelihoods.

“We need to get the economy firing on all cylinders again, but that won’t happen with businesses bogged down by debt,” said Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor.

The warning comes as Sir Keir Starmer steps up his pressure on Boris Johnson over sleaze allegations, pledging to “clean up our politics”.

The Labor leader said: “When I was director of public prosecutions, I was not afraid to prosecute MPs who had broken the rules over MPs’ expenses. As prime minister, I would not be afraid to overhaul a system that still allows power to be abused.”

Labor has compared the possible cost of Mr. Johnson’s flat makeover – No 10 has not denied it could have reached £200,000 – with the property market up and down the country.

The sum would pay for a terraced house in the UK (at an average price of £203,000), a flat in the southeast (£202,000) and a semi-detached house in the east Midlands (£195,000) or the northwest (£198,000), it said.