WELSH businesses will receive an additional £227million from the Government to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic.

The money comes from the HM Treasury and brings the total support from the UK Government for Wales to £5.427billion in the fight against coronavirus.

Shadow minister for economy, business and infrastructure, Russell George MS, said: “Further lockdowns are of course not the new year anyone wanted, but it’s imperative that all measures are taken to prevent the spread of the virus – especially this new variant – but the devastating effect of these lockdowns on our economies must be softened by measures like the ones Rishi Sunak has introduced over nearly 10 months.”

The Welsh Conservative member added: “That’s why we welcome this additional £227m, but we also make very clear that it’s up to the Welsh Labour-led Government to make sure this money from HM Treasury is made available and accessible to businesses with immediate effect.

“Many businesses are now on their knees, and the usual delays by the Labour government, as we saw before Christmas, in making funds available will just drive businesses and businesspeople further into the ground.”

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The funding comes following Boris Johnson’s announcement of England heading into another lockdown and new funding announced this morning by chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The total funding for the UK in this latest announcement tops £4bn.

Mr Sunak said the funding outside of England was on top of the increased funding which had been guaranteed by the UK Government to continue to provide the devolved administrations to plan for their Covid-19 response in the months to come as business support is a devolved issue.

The devolved administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will be able to benefit from the other UK-wide measures, which includes the extension of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme.