Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are to receive a one-off grant worth up to £9,000 as part of £4.6billion Covid-19 support for businesses in the new lockdown.

A £594 million discretionary fund will also be made available to support other impacted businesses.

This follows the Prime Minister’s announcement last night that these businesses will be closed until at least February half-term in order to help control the virus, and, together with the wide range of existing support, provides them with certainty through the Spring period.

The cash is provided on a per-property basis to support businesses through the latest restrictions, and is expected to benefit over 600,000 business properties, worth £4 billion in total across all nations of the UK.

Truro and Falmouth Member of Parliament Cherilyn Mackrory said: “This is good news for businesses in Truro and Falmouth and I welcome the Chancellor’s provision of this additional funding to support businesses through this difficult time.”

“The business support grants and discretionary funding will again be administered by Cornwall Council and my team and I will continue to do all we can to support local businesses in Truro and Falmouth in being able to access this support as soon as possible.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “The new strain of the virus presents us all with a huge challenge - and whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, we have needed to tighten restrictions further.”

“Throughout the pandemic we’ve taken swift action to protect lives and livelihoods and today we’re announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the Spring.”

“This will help businesses to get through the months ahead – and crucially it will help sustain jobs, so workers can be ready to return when they are able to reopen.”

A further £594 million is also being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants, that might be affected by the restrictions. Businesses should apply to their Local Authorities.

The new one-off grants come in addition to billions of existing business support, including grants worth up to £3,000 for closed businesses, and up to £2,100 per month for impacted businesses once they reopen.