CBILS

I’m disappointed but not surprised by this. I suspect it’s having a disproportionately negative impact in rural areas where businesses are traditionally smaller and to some extent more easily pushed around by banks. Along with the story above it smacks of quick thinking and less good implementation.

The government has admitted that just 1.4% of businesses that enquired about its coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) have so far been successful.

Almost three weeks after the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, first launched the scheme to help small and medium-sized businesses with loans and other financing of up to £5m each, it has emerged that just 4,200 of the estimated 300,000 firms that sought help online have received rescue loans.

Tens of thousands of firms are understood to have made formal applications, but amid accusations of excessive bureaucracy and a reluctance among lenders to make loans, only a fraction have been given the go-ahead.

Alok Sharma, the business secretary, revealed the lack of progress as pressure mounted on officials and leading banks to speed up the processing of loan applications before thousands of businesses go bust.