Ed Miliband MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, responding to the latest Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) figures, said:

“Today’s figures show that the CBIL scheme is in no way equal to the scale of economic distress facing our firms.

“Providing 16,000 loans in 4 weeks in a country of nearly 6 million SMEs is not good enough. In an average week last year there was more than £1bn of new SME lending. The fact that CBILS are now only at that level at a time of the worst economic emergency in our lifetimes is a clear sign that they are inadequate.

“The Government must recognise the scheme is not working adequately and change it urgently. The future of many of our small firms depends on its decisions.”