Government 'wilfully ignorant' over travel trade support

TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes, has accused Ministers of "wilful ignorance" over the plight of the travel trade as the Government starts winding down its furlough job support scheme which has been in place throughout the pandemic. 

It’s thought around 1.5 million workers remain on furlough and from today employers will pay part of that for the first time. 

Manuel Cortes said:

"This is a terrible decision from those in power at Westminster to start phasing out furlough support while we remain in a pandemic. It will put workers at greater risk of being laid off – none more so than in our travel trade which has been hit so hard by the pandemic. 

"Removing furlough support for our travel trade smacks of wilful ignorance because Government knows perfectly well that the industry has really not been able to trade in any meaningful way now for over a year. This has led to intolerable pressure on jobs and businesses up and down our high streets. 

"If Ministers had any sense they would recognise that there are some sectors which have not had the chance to recover, because of the nature of their business. That is certainly the case with our travel trade. 

"I’m calling today for an extension of the full furlough terms for travel so that we can save jobs and make sure we have a sector to come back to when the pandemic is over. 

"Doing so will make sense for everyone, not least our members. There is still time to put this right and I call on Ministers to do so without delay."