Henry Smith MP has led a group of cross-party MPs in writing to the Chancellor of the Exchequer urging him to agree a customised and flexible extension to the furlough scheme for the aviation, travel and tourism industries.

The letter has been organised by the Crawley MP who established and chairs the Future of Aviation Group.

In the letter, the parliamentarians call on the Chancellor to consider the exceptional circumstances facing these sectors. They emphasise that these sectors will take significantly longer than other industries to recover and specifically call on the Chancellor to agree an extension to the furlough scheme to support the millions of jobs involved.

Henry said;

“Our aviation, travel and tourism industries have been amongst the worst affected by the coronavirus and will take far longer to recover than most sectors.

“Aviation is an economic enabler and it will be central to rebuilding our economy. The Government must extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme beyond October to support the millions of jobs in these sectors and to allow them to play their full role in our economic recovery.

“Cutting off this support before these sectors have been able to recover will have disastrous consequences for everyone in the country.”