Measures unveiled by the Chancellor in the budget will help reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on people and businesses in Lichfield and Burntwood, a council chief has said.

Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak unveiled a continuation of the furlough scheme, further investment in the vaccine roll-out and packages to help companies restart after the enforced shutdown.

Cllr Alan White, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said the measures would help reinforce steps already being taken to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.

Cllr Alan White
Cllr Alan White

“The Chancellor’s commitment to continued support for businesses and employees through the pandemic recovery is vital and will provide much-needed reassurance to communities here in Staffordshire and nationally.

“He has set out critical initiatives in line with the roadmap out of the pandemic restrictions which we welcome – from ensuring businesses can retain employees to supporting those that have had to close to reopen.

“In Staffordshire we have worked hard since the March 2020 lockdown to put in place targeted business and employee support with our partners where we knew it was needed most, making it easily accessible from day one.

“Just this week we have launched our latest business support programmes, working with our district and borough councils to make our shared resources work as effectively as possible. Together with national and regional initiatives they can make a difference now so that businesses can survive and thrive.”

Cllr Alan White, Staffordshire County Council

The Chancellor said a further £1.6billion would be invested in the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines across the country.

Cllr White said:

“The additional funding for the vaccination programme will enhance the superb efforts here in Staffordshire, complemented by our community testing.

“This will be a hugely challenging year for everyone, but with the vaccine success, ongoing business support and a roadmap to recovery set out, there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Cllr Alan White, Staffordshire County Council
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Steven Norman
3 years ago

And “Thank you” Rishi for another maximum Council Tax rise at the same time as Staffordshire has a 23% cut in funding for potholes. This is on top of the Conservatives deliberate national policy of a £2 billion cut in funding for councils and cuts of 30,000 police officers nationally.

Kitty
3 years ago

Hasn’t reassured this household…the massive fiscal drag, for one thing, will bring misery to millions, stealthily.
I’m suspecting an early GE before the post-covid honeymoon (as predicted by ONS), ends.
By the way, please stop building on green sites.

John Griffin
3 years ago

Nothing for any of the frontline in the pandemic. Nothing for climate change. Tax hikes. Business as usual for the rich. Cllr White mumbles Tory HQ PR puff lines with the usual contempt he and his fellows show for real people and real lives.

Darryl
3 years ago

Reassured as in, we need to raise council tax to fill the shortfall reassured, or a different type?

GFI
3 years ago

Reasured that the average Lichfeldian is going to get hammerd ,when are these people going to understand the real world we are living in ,not some conservative bubble full of lies and deceit and contracts for pals ,it really is becoming to much to stomach .

FCALichfield
3 years ago

Reassurance a bit thin on the ground for NHS workers.
Any comment from our (extremely well paid) MP, or will he yet again just parrot the party line?

Veteran ex forces
3 years ago

The council is letting more houses built in the area and so getting more council tax, so why are they putting council tax up.

Megan
3 years ago

I would like to repeat a comment I read this morning, :

“Think of a table with a plate of 12 biscuits.

A Tory billionaire, a nurse, and a factory worker, are sitting at the table.

The Tory billionaire takes 11 biscuits and says to the factory worker “Watch out! This nurse is after your biscuit!”..

It’s not a coincidence most nurses are women. Stand up for your rights on International Women’s day and beyond

Megan
3 years ago

Happy International Women’s Day x

Philip
3 years ago

The Tories style themselves as ‘the low tax party’. For my next joke….The LDC spend the tax on facilities and infrastructure.
Thirdly… All Lichfield citizens fell happy and well represented.
There are more jokes but no one’s laughing.

Darryl
3 years ago

I noticed the Highways Inspector was at the pot holes on the approach to Wall Island from Shenstone.

It must 4, maybe 5 times they’ve drawn lines around those holes, only for the lines to fade and nothing be done.

John Allen
3 years ago

After the incompetence of the government through the pandemic, the pitiful pay rise proposed for NHS staff is really the last straw. Boris seems to have forgotten they saved his life, and how he stood outside No 10 clapping them. Rank hypocrite. Can’t afford any more? Find the money from somewhere else. I know, cancel HS2. But too many snouts in the trough to do this. I don’t think the Conservatives should ever hold power in this country again, nationally or locally, after their performance, not just recently, but over decades. Rich getting richer, poor getting poorer, manufacturing trashed, mining shut down, unions powerless, country being sold down the river. It started with Heath and Thatcher, but their tradition has carried on since.

John Allen
3 years ago

And I might add, part of Maggie Thatcher’s agenda all those years ago was to do away with local councils, hence the successive cuts in funding for them, which the Tories have continued ever since. Councils are then forced to cut services to balance the books. But hey – the private sector and the charities can step in, not to mention families for caring duties. I remember when public services like the utilities were privatised. One day we all collectively owned them, the next day we could buy shares in what we had owned the day before. One of the biggest con tricks in the history of government. What is galling about it as well is that taxpayer’s money is still being spent on subsidising these companies, like the railways, so we have the worst of both worlds. I think we should bear all of this in mind when we see council services being cut, and put the blame where it belongs, with Tory governments and their fixation on the free market.

Megan
3 years ago

Just read this in The Guardian, “The two top executives at Serco, one of the companies behind the government’s much-criticised £37bn test-and-trace scheme, were handed pay of £7.4m for 2020, including bonuses worth £5.5m.”. This is so disgusting, unethical and wholly inexcusable in a supposedly civil society. Exposing the deep cracks therein, it shows that we most definitely are not all in it together. Mr Sunak it is so galling to read this and to know that your budget means increased council taxes for residents. Your cronies are certainly looking after themselves and their own, one of whom, the CEO of the company is Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson. And you Mr Sunak throw breadcrumbs at the general public who are having to bear the brunt during this awful period. The UK has never been so divided. Does the Council Leader really believe that the communities are reassured by this budget. Which planet are you living on Councillor Alan White? You really need bringing down to earth.

John Allen
3 years ago

Quite so Megan. Cuts in public services and putting these out to private companies results in us paying more for a poorer service, while the guys at the top of these companies get obscene amounts of money. The mantra that the free market will result in more efficiency and better services has been proved wrong so many times, but the Tories still champion it. Labour have virtually given up the fight at national level and are a spent force. We are becoming an increasingly uncompassionate society, fuelled by the selfish ‘me, me’ philosophy promoted by Thatcher and her cronies and pursued ever since by the Tories. Most of our manufacturing has either been sold to foreign countries or outsourced to the far East, all in the pursuit of more profit, while workers in the far East are trapped in slave labour. Apathy has ruled amongst the people for far too long, allowing this terrible situation to continue.