BARROW and Furness MP Simon Fell has vowed to support the town’s businesses.

Speaking at a virtual meeting between the Conservative MP and business owners in the area, Mr Fell revealed that he has contacted the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to secure more financial aid for businesses.

Since the start of the pandemic, 1152 government loans had been issued to Barrow businesses, but Fell is keen to see more government help after the area was placed into Tier 2 restrictions.

He said: “There are some businesses from the first wave of this, that did not get support.

“[Now] my concern with Tier 2 is the fact that some businesses simply cannot operate with the restrictions that come with this.

“Whereas if we were in Tier 3, support would come to them [that]doesn’t come to them now.

“For Tier 2, there is not a great deal, the existing support packages are still there in terms of Bounce Back Loans, but beyond that there is not a lot.

“That is what I am pushing on.”

In addition to this, the MP now believes that after the “odd blip,” there is now a “substantial testing regime” across the country, which will be vital to combat the virus’ spread.

A fully functioning NHS Track and Trace system will also be essential to lower positive cases, but Fell believes a small minority are sabotaging its efficiency.

He said: “Roughly 60 per cent of the cases of track and trace individuals are picked up by the national system, the rest go over to the local systems.

“The real challenge is the 10 per cent of people that do not want to be found and deliberately not picking up their phones.

“If you do not pick up your phone, that is where we get into trouble and of course, those are the people who are spreading the virus around the community at the moment.”