Britain’s tourism and hospitality industries are already vulnerable. It’s not just big attractions in London. Our seaside towns rely on just a few summer months of business to get them through the year. Sign below and show you agree.

If the current health crisis continues, as it seems it will, many family-run, small businesses will be in danger. We have already left the EU and we’re currently in the withdrawal transition period. If we drop out of transition with no deal with our closest neighbour countries, our ability to attract holidaymakers won’t recover in time to save our tourism industry.

Tourists from the Continent will go elsewhere, and “unskilled” European workers – who make up 85% of EU workers in the hospitality industry – will be barred from working here during the busy season. Small and family-run hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants and cafes will be worst hit.

Our seaside towns, like Blackpool, Hastings or Aberystwyth have worked so hard to rebuild and attract visitors from all over the world. But they can’t weather a storm on two fronts. I think they deserve our support. 

That’s why we should extend the transition period. There is no reason we must fight two battles at once. Extending gives us time to focus on the pandemic now and work out a deal with Europe later. We must ask for an extension before 1 July.

Already, we’ve seen how people are working together to overcome this crisis, and support their vulnerable friends and neighbours. We should be doing the same, but on a national scale. 

Let’s protect our most vulnerable towns and their industries. Let’s make sure no one is left behind. We, as a country, can and must work together. Let’s act together in the interest of all, and extend the transition period, before it’s too late.