Mayor calls on Government for more cash for struggling businesses as London is placed under further “tier two” restrictions

By Jessie Mathewson, Local Democracy Reporter

London businesses will need coronavirus cash from the Government as the city enters a Tier Two lockdown, the London Mayor and business leaders have warned.

From midnight tonight, households in the capital will be banned from mixing indoors.

Pubs, restaurants and shops will remain open, and neither companies nor workers will get extra cash from ministers.

But Sadiq Khan said any part of the country in a Tier Two lockdown should get support – not just those areas facing the highest restrictions in Tier Three.

The Mayor wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday warning “hundreds of thousands” of jobs in the capital are now at risk.

“Many of these are not dying sectors,” the Mayor wrote.

“These are businesses that we are confident will return to thriving once we have come through this pandemic.”

Richard Burge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, said the new rules would hit pubs, restaurants and shops hard – particularly in the city centre.

Pictured top: London Mayor Sadiq Khan