Businesses up and down our country face pressures they never expected, challenges they never predicted and hardships they never sought. Rightly, the Government stepped up and came to their aid in their hour of need—grants, the furlough scheme, bounce back loans, and much more.
The Government have provided to businesses in all four nations one of the most generous and supportive packages of economic measures anywhere in the world.
That said, my constituency, a coastal community, with an economy at its core dependent on tourism, the arts, music, creative sectors and hospitality, has been disproportionately hit by coronavirus. Hastings and Rye is a beautiful constituency that has seen a revival in recent years of its music scene, artistic events, creative kinship and gastronomic offerings. We only have to compare Hastings old town 15 years ago with today to see the massive winds of change that have blown through our streets.
Those who have helped to revive the parts of this beautiful constituency, however, are now themselves in need of support, for they are the freelancers who are the backbone of many of these sectors and have thus far gone without much Government support. From musicians to artists, writers to journalists, actors and performers, they put the soul and beat into the streets of Hastings, and it is only right that we support them now in their hour of need, because once coronavirus is over and we are out in the streets celebrating once more, we will want our musicians, actors and artists there to entertain, inspire and lift us up after this dark episode in human history.
This is not just about the performer; it is about the fabric of connections that bind the whole industry together. These performers work in partnership with each other and with theatres, commercial organisations, charitable trusts, schools and local groups, so by supporting our freelance or self-employed performers, we help the whole industry to stay afloat and we build community resilience.
This is not just about individual finances; it is about experience and skills being lost and young people not being encouraged to choose the creative industries as a career. Being self-employed in any industry provides the freedom and flexibility to go where the work is, but during the pandemic, work dried up overnight for many people, and freelancers continue to struggle as protective measures against coronavirus continue to affect many industries.