Nearly half a million small businesses in Britain could fail within weeks thanks to rapid increases in the cost of doing business, one industry group has claimed.
According to industry group the Federation of Small Businesses, hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK are at risk of going under thanks to the current cost of living crisis, with inflated operation costs in particular rendering many ventures unprofitable.
The group is now hoping for government intervention to be reintroduced, with its chairman Martin McTague saying that if the government fails to get involved, it would effectively mean the loss of taxpayer money which was used to bail out these same businesses during lockdown.
In an interview with the state-funded broadcaster the BBC, McTague said that around 300,000 businesses were at risk of folding within months, with hundreds of thousands more also at risk of collapsing within the coming number of months.
McTague emphasised that these small enterprises were facing a “ticking time bomb” of increasing costs, with many having “literally weeks left before they run out of cash”.
This assertion seems to line up with information published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which notes that over 40 per cent of businesses only have cash reserves to last three months or less at current estimates.
'Reasonable Worst Case Scenario': Millions of UK Homes Face Winter Blackouts as Russia Turns Gas Taps Off https://t.co/x65ub8XWr0
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 30, 2022
The revelation from the Federation of Small Businesses appears to show that small businesses in Britain appear to be struggling in the same way everyday citizens are, with ONS statistics indicating that nearly a quarter of Britons are struggling to pay their bills as inflation hits a 40-year high.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party appears to be struggling to get a handle on the crisis, recently announcing that they would be implementing a once-off windfall tax on oil and gas companies who are making significant profits during the ongoing crisis in the hopes of subsidising energy bills.
However, while officials are now planning on handing out fuel allowances of up to £650 to those most at risk, it does not appear like such aid will be of much help as bills are expected to rise by as much as £1,300 when compared to last October.
The rising cost of fuel might ultimately be the least of the UK’s problems at the end of the day though, with authorities now fearing that forthcoming gas shortages could result in blackouts for millions of people across the country.
Such is now seemingly considered to be a “reasonable worst case scenario” by authorities should Vladimir Putin’s Russia decide to either constrict or end its supply of gas to Europe, with much of the continent being outright addicted to supply from Moscow and seen as likely to soak up supply should they lose it.
As a result, millions of homes would likely be put under rationing conditions during what could be a very cold winter for the British public.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.