Moray MP Douglas Ross has commented after new figures revealed the number of jobs in Moray that have been furloughed and the number of self-employed in the area who have benefitted from the UK government schemes during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Douglas said: “These figures show how important it has been for the UK government to support businesses, employees and the self-employed during this pandemic. We acted quickly to protect jobs and livlihoods and it is clear how many have been protected with the self-employed in Moray benefitting from almost £8m of support.
“There is no doubt that without the support from the UK Government people in Moray would have experienced far greater difficulties than they have. I realise that some have fallen outside of these schemes and I continue to work on this but there is no doubt that the package of measures put in place by Chancellor Rishi Sunak will ensure that Moray is in a good position to recover from the pandemic.
“HMRC have confirmed that in Moray 2600 claims were made to the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, totalling £7,800,000 with the average value of the grant at £3000. And across Moray 11,700 jobs have been protected through the furlough scheme.
“Of course this support is on top of the £3.8 billion the UK government has provided to Scotland to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak. £2.3 billion of this has been business support providing grants of £10,000 and £25,000 to many firms across our area.
“All in all this is unprecedented support from the UK government which shows the strength of the Union where we can pull our resources and suooort every part of the country. It is clear that Moray has, and continues to benefit from the range of UK support packages, which is one of the most comprehensive and generous anywhere in the world.”