Tory central London MP calls for fresh package to support the West End
A Conservative central London Tory MP is today calling for a fresh package of economic support to help the capital’s post-Covid economic recovery, with specific measures for the West End.
Cities of London and Westminster MP Nickie Aiken today used a 30-minute parliamentary debate today to call for a removal of the £2m business rates relief cap, a government-backed insurance scheme for the threatre sector and longer Sunday trading hours.
Aiken also used the debate to urge the government to extend the five per cent VAT freeze for cultural tickets until the end of 2021-22 to help boost central London’s arts and theatre sectors.
“Right now, our great capital is asleep, and I would like the government to consider a robust and ambitious plan to reawaken it and bring it roaring back to life,” she said.
“A huge part of that involves helping our theatre industry, and in turn all the surrounding restaurants, shops and hotels – the ecosystem of our beautiful global city.
“I’m confident London will bounce back, but the government has a choice on how quickly that happens.”
London’s economy has been disproportionately affected by the Covid recession, with unemployment rates higher in the capital over the past 15 months than nationally.
Central London has been particularly hammered, with Covid restrictions wiping out footfall to the thousands of bricks and mortar businesses in areas like Soho and Westminster.
Footfall has begun to increase rapidly in central London over the past two months, but is still well below pre-pandemic levels.
However, the recent delay to the shedding of Covid restrictions has left the theatre and hospitality sector unable to operate anywhere near capacity due to ongoing social distancing measures.
Julian Bird, chief executive of the Society of London Theatres and UK Theatre last week said: “This delay not only impacts productions and theatres preparing to open in the next few weeks, but also shows currently running socially distanced, which had planned to increase their capacity – and producers making the difficult decision whether to start rehearsals for shows due to open in late July or August, with thousands of jobs hanging in the balance.
“Particularly at risk are large-scale commercial productions, which have received little or no Cultural Recovery Fund support and cannot survive under social distancing.”