Julian’s parliamentary committee presses government to aid covid-hit wholesale and suppliers sector
April 8, 2021
The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee on which Julian serves has published a report stressing government needs to better support the severely impacted supply chain of food and drink businesses to protect jobs and livelihoods, as the hospitality sector re-opens from 12th April.
The ‘Covid-19 and the issues of security in food supply’ report is based on oral evidence from witnesses questioned by the Committee, and a range of written submissions.
It argues that the wholesalers and suppliers of eateries and pubs have not received the same level of support as the venues they supply, even though they suffered a similar collapse in demand due to covid restrictions.
The Committee emphasises that government support to keep hospitality alive will be a limited value if the sector’s suppliers collapse due to months of lost trading income. The report urges Ministers to urgently assess the impact of hospitality closures on the supply chain, and provide additional support for this during the crucial period of reopening.
After publication, Julian said: “From my work assisting concerned local businesses, I know how devastating closure and restrictions have been for York-based wholesalers and suppliers in the last year. It will take many a long time to earn back the huge losses they have haemorrhaged, so I think it is important government looks again at whether they can assist further in protecting the very large number of jobs along the hospitality supply chain.
I hope Ministers carefully review and respond to the Committee’s recommendations. I have recently tabled parliamentary questions to the government over enhancing support for wholesalers, who have had less support than venues despite suffering the same loss in trade, and will continue to do everything I can to assist our city’s businesses and job-creators as the economy begins to return to normal. We simply cannot take York’s prosperity for granted.”
