War of words over business support in Lewes

In a statement issued earlier today (Friday, April 3), senior members of Lewes District Council’s cross-party co-operative alliance accused Lewes MP Maria Caulfield of making “unfounded political attacks” over the council’s handling of the coronavirus business grants. 

Ms Caulfield rejected this criticism, however, arguing the council had been slow to act compared to other local authorities. 

In the statement, the council’s Liberal Democrat deputy leader James MacCleary said: “It’s vital that any businesses that are in difficulty contact us using the form on our website. 

“Unfortunately, our local MP has recently caused a lot of confusion and anxiety by making false claims about how we are awarding these grants.

“That has made it even more important that businesses and residents refer to the advice on our website if they have financial concerns. It is vital right now that residents are getting the reassurance and support they need.”

Labour’s Chris Collier, meanwhile, said: “Whatever your politics, now like never before, we need our elected representatives to coalesce and lead by example. As officers work above and beyond to support residents, this is disrespectful and frankly abhorrent behaviour. 

“It’s particularly repugnant when many of those that officers are working to support, are people that have been hit hardest by ten years of Tory cuts.”

The statement goes on to say that the council will begin to pay out the grants by the end of this week, although it is unclear on what date the application process is expected to open. 

Ms Caulfield, however, defended her comments, saying she had been “standing up for my local businesses” 

She said: “Every other council has started distributing this grant, with on average £6 million per council already gone out. 

“In Lewes it is £0 and businesses have to wait until April 17 until they can even apply.

“I’ve spent the morning trying to get the grant for over 500 local businesses in Lewes, Seaford and Newhaven and local villages who are on their knees. 

“The government gave Lewes District Council the money days ago. Brighton and Hove, Mid Sussex, Wealden, Hastings and Rother have all started distributing the money. Why can’t the Lib Dems and Greens in Lewes?

“I won’t apologise for standing up for my local businesses and demanding they get the government money they are entitled to to save their businesses.”

The row was sparked earlier this week, after Lewes District Council told businesses they would not be able to apply for the grants until April 17. 

Writing on Twitter, Ms Caulfield said this timeframe was “unacceptable”, given the council had received the money from the government and that other councils had already begun accepting applications.

These included Wealden District Council and Rother District Council, which are both accepting applications for the grants. Both authorities say they expect to make the first payments from April 6.

Lewes District Council, however, argued inconsistent advice from the government had led to delays and that it had been working to put an automated system in place, with applications open from April 17.

But in their statement, the co-operative alliance says it now expects to have the system up and running before the end of next week, with eligible businesses able to confirm their details and receive payments electronically.

This will be “within hours in some cases”, a co-operative alliance spokesman said.

According to the co-operative alliance, Lewes District Council is expected to award more than £20m of grants to support businesses hit by the coronavirus crisis.

The alliance says it has developed an online system to process the applications from eligible businesses, who have all been written to already.

The grants come in addition to the business rates holiday announced by the government last month, which would total around £15m in Lewes.

“This amounts to a package of nearly £40m of support for businesses in our District in recent weeks.” said council leader Zoe Nicholson. 

“We are also providing advice and support to businesses to get them through this very difficult time.