THE Government needs to support Saints’ hospitality sector says MP, Marie Rimmer.

Ms Rimmer described Saints as a major employer in the community and the stadium as the biggest hospitality hub.

The club are not classified as a hospitality business so were not able to apply for additional support. This was despite a significant amount of their income coming from the business.

Saints announced last week they have lost more than £1m in non-match day revenue during the coronavirus crisis and are facing the heartbreak of seeing local people lose their jobs.

Ending her remarks, Ms Rimmer stressed that “the Government needs to recognise that businesses can be across different sectors.”

Ms Rimmer’s intervention came after the Saints’ chief executive, Mike Rush, sent an open letter to the Sports Minister. The letter explained the difficulties that Saints have found themselves in as they were unable to access the ‘Closed’ Job Support Scheme (JSS).

In it he said: “As a club which built its own stadium, runs it properly and employs its people directly – we have been prevented from further accessing support that would have been available if the business was structured differently.

“Whilst navigating the reliefs and mitigations is complicated, the result of this is straightforward – it is the heartbreak of local people losing their jobs."

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Marie Rimmer said: “Saints are being punished for doing the right thing. They do not outsource their hospitality business to contractors. They employ everyone directly and as such are the largest employer in rugby league.

“The Government needs to recognise and understand this problem. Many other businesses find themselves in a similar situation as Saints are in.

"Businesses can cut across different sectors, in this case it is sport and hospitality, but there are plenty of examples. I urge the Government to have an urgent rethink on their approach.”