UK to pledge $7b in grants to help struggling firms

Bloomberg

The UK is set to create a 5 billion-pound ($7 billion) grant program to help businesses that have been hard hit by the pandemic.
The ‘Restart’ program will mostly apply to retail, hospitality and leisure — the industries that have been impacted most by the series of lockdowns imposed in the last year. The plan will be announced on Wednesday as part of the release of the national budget, according to a statement from the Treasury department.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a roadmap out of lockdown earlier this month, prioritising the return of schools and outdoor activities over reopening stores and restaurants. Shuttering much of the economy has pushed the UK into its worst recession in 300 years and a raft of government support measures has led to a surge in debt.
Under the new program, non-essential retail businesses will be eligible for up to 6,000 pounds per location to help them reopen and start trading safely as the economy emerges out of the nationwide lockdown. Gyms, pubs, hairdressers and hotel restaurants — which will open later or will be more impacted by restrictions — will get up to 18,000 pounds per location.
“Our local businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic – which is why we went big and went early with a multi-billion pound package of support,” Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in a statement. “There’s now light at the end of the tunnel and this 5 billion pounds of extra cash grants will ensure our high street can open their doors with optimism.”

Sunak to show plan to add income tax by $8.4bn
The UK’s finance minister Rishi Sunak will elaborate on plans to increase income taxes by 6 billion pounds ($8.4 billion) in his budget speech this week, the Times reported.
Sunak will freeze the income tax rate thresholds of 12,500 pounds and 50,000 pounds for at least three years, the paper said, without citing anyone. Keeping the thresholds on hold rather than raising them would mean more people are paying taxes as wages rise.
About 800,000 people who currently aren’t paying income taxes will do so before the next election is due, the paper said. In that period, another 800,000 people are expected to move into the next tax bracket, it said.
Unemployment in the UK climbed to its highest rate in almost five years in the fourth quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The chancellor of the exchequer will set out the details in his March 3 budget after Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined a plan for reopening the UK economy that keeps some businesses closed until at least June 21.
Sunak faces a daunting task to put the economy on a path to recovery after suffering its deepest slump in three centuries last year. Unemployment climbed to its highest rate in almost five years in the fourth quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics.