As expected Covid-19 continues to dominate Parliament, the news and our everyday lives.
Our local communities and the selfless acts of residents are what make Britain great. And nothing demonstrates that more than the 500,000 people who have volunteered to help our NHS in this unprecedented crises. 500,000 people stepped forward to help in 24 hours. That is staggering and proves that we must never allow people to talk our country down. These volunteers will now help support the 1.5 million vulnerable people who are currently in self-isolation. I would like to send a huge thank you to all of the Swindon residents who answered this call, you are a credit to our town.
I have been working around the clock as a constituency MP, responding to the concerns and questions from local residents as well as helping those residents stuck abroad to get back home. I have also been working tirelessly as a minister with fellow members of the Government to provide as much support as we can to strengthen the safety net for individuals. I particularly welcome the £1,000 per year increase for Universal Credit, extensions to Statutory Sick Pay, direct support to employers to protect jobs, help for renters and those with mortgages, and the £500m hardship fund for Local Authorities to target additional support. This even included appearing at the Petitions Committee, held online for the first time in the history of Parliament to discuss Statutory Sick Pay and Universal Credit support.
The Government has been working at pace to make sure we have the support in place to protect jobs, businesses and the economy – a coherent, co-ordinated economic plan. The size of fiscal support it larger than almost anywhere else in the world. We have already set out support available via, Business Rates, tax deferrals, loans, grants etc. However, it was clear, more needed to be done to specifically help those who are self-employed. I have spoken to countless, plumbers, taxi drivers, hairdressers, childminders, electricians etc, so I understand action was need.
Therefore, I absolutely support last night's announcements by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The government will pay self-employed people, who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus, a taxable grant worth 80 per cent of their average monthly profits over the last three years, up to £2,500 per month. Open for at least three months across the UK and will be extended if necessary. Rightly, this has been developed in conjunction with the FSB, trade unions, independent and self-employed bodies and with cross-party support.
Finally, I would like to pay tribute to our NHS staff, and all our key workers, who are working hard during this challenging time. We all need to do our bit to ensure that we protect our NHS and the hardworking staff that are putting themselves and their families at risk to keep us safe. We can do this by only going out to buy basic necessities or medical needs, limiting outdoor exercise to once a day, going out alone or with our own households, providing care or assistance to an elderly or vulnerable person, and only travelling to work if your job can not be done from home. With us all following the guidelines, we can protect the NHS, save lives and the sooner we can return to normality.
