4. Statement by the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales: Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:24 pm on 22 April 2020.

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Photo of Mike Hedges Mike Hedges Labour 4:24, 22 April 2020

I'm being contacted by sole traders—driving instructors, photographers, plumbers—whose work has just ended. They've made enquiries and they've been told there is no support for them within the current system. Is that correct, and if it's not correct, can you ask whoever's giving that information out to tell them what support there is for them, because these are people who have just lost the whole of their income?

The second point I'd like to raise is about having a strategy for each economic sector. If I look at retail, for example, there are some companies who have never had it so good—online retailers and food retailers who don't have to have any special offers because they've just got a queue forming outside. They've never had it so good, it's like Christmas every week, whereas you've got other retailers who are doing no retail whatsoever.

We're seeing one major retailer failing each week, and I expect there to be far more than that of local retailers, who just will not be able to reopen. Is there anything that can be done to support some of these smaller retailers? We know their rates have gone—they've still got their rent and they've still got the other overheads. There's all of these payments they've got to make in order to just keep their building.