Mansfield MP says Government has taken Covid-19 very seriously from day one

There are some regular issues being raised with me by constituents about income and business support, which I am feeding in to Government through my role in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

I thought it worth updating you all that, though it doesn’t yet have the answers, the Government is actively looking at how it can best offer support to those who miss the deadlines for the employee job retention scheme and self-employed schemes to try catch more people in that safety net.

It’s also looking actively at how to help businesses where the landlord’s name is on the business rates bills instead of yours, as well as directors of small businesses who might not qualify to be furloughed.

All of these things we recognise as issues that mean some people are missing out, and I can assure you they are actively being worked on as we look for solutions.

The legal complexities of many of these issues mean they are not easy nuts to crack, but they are not forgotten.

I thought it might also be worth responding to accusations that the Government did not take this virus seriously enough when it first emerged.

I can assure you that’s not the case.

I’m certain that things will not have been perfect as we try to manage this huge and unprecedented crisis, and we’ll look back and see some things we could have done better and faster.

Of course we will – hindsight is a wonderful thing.

However accusations that Government is somehow slacking or not taking this seriously are way wide of the mark.

I have never seen ministers and civil servants working like this, with such pace and intensity.

The full force of every resource and every bit of capacity in Government is being thrown at tackling this crisis.

Everyone involved is doing everything they can, though we recognise that nothing is perfect and that some things will not be possible.

But I can assure my constituents that no stone is being left unturned.

Ben Bradley is MP for Mansfield.