Thread by @OwenThompson

I’ve raised the issue of those #Excluded from Government support in 6 oral questions, 7 speeches, dozens of written questions and 3 debates I’ve led. Yet progress has been minimal – hence the need for today’s debate.

Tune in now at parliamentlive.tv 📺

Thread below 👇

https://twitter.com/OwenThompson/status/1412746089548156931

It’s a waste of time for Ministers to keep up their strategy of parroting what HAS been done to support people. What matters is that gaps still exist.

The Treasury might tell us they’ve amended the RTI cut-off date – but this does nothing for those who missed out on furlough because of their roles as PAYE freelancers or annually paid limited company directors.

They might have included 2019/20 tax returns for SEISS – but their assertion that this will open eligibility to 600,000 more self-employed people is categorically disputed by campaigners.

They might have introduced the Culture Recovery Fund – but it does little for supply chain business worst excluded in the sector.

So some gaps have been filled, but the onus is now on the Government to fill the rest, not rest on its laurels. Why haven’t proposals such as the Directors’ Income Support Scheme been taken forward?

And why the continued intransigence – treating MPs like broken records and the Excluded as nuisances?

Now I imagine Ministers are rubbing their hands in glee at the chance to redirect attention to the reopening and brush off the Excluded as yesterday’s news.

But if the Government thinks that the end of restrictions will make this issue go away, they are wrong, because for many of the Excluded the hardest time is still to come.

Many have taken on toxic debt to survive, which will only delay the collapse of many businesses and feed into a spiralling mental health crisis – unless the Government acts now.

Are the supposedly strong shoulders of the Treasury are happy to shrug off millions of livelihoods – or will they act to make this debt more sustainable?

Thanks again to @ExcludedUK @WeMakeEventsoff @ExcludedUnity @ForgottenLtd @APPGGapsSupport & more for continuing to bang the drum despite Treasury intransigence. #ExcludedUK #Excluded #ExcludedUnity #ForgottenLtd #Freelance #Gapsinsupport #WeMakeEvents