Today, Richard took part in the self-employment debate in Parliament.
In his speech, he raised the cause of the many self-employed and freelancers in his constituency and across the country who have not been heard by the Treasury and have not qualified for any income support schemes.
Commenting, Richard said:
"During this pandemic, various Government schemes were successfully put in place to support incomes and businesses and the Government was able to find solutions to all sorts of problems such as sourcing groceries for the vulnerable and getting Britons home who had been stranded abroad. But there are many self-employed people omitted from any support: the newly self-employed; those who receive income from dividends and those who have not been able to get back to work because they work in live events, conferences, the arts or the wedding industry - industries which still remain closed.
"In today's debate, I called on the Minister to think again about what support they need to provide to those who have been excluded from the schemes available."
Richard's full speech can be watched from the YouTube link above.