BUSINESSES across Monmouthshire, south east Wales, as well as Wales are at breaking point, with countless already buckling under immense pressure.

This dire predicament was hardly something many of us expected as we ushered in the start of 2022, but it’s a sad indictment of reality.

But the latest problems began, ironically, during the festive period, with the only Christmas ‘present’ handed to businesses being restrictive measures starving them of vital revenue.

In the last couple of days common sense has finally prevailed and Labour ministers are gradually lifting their unnecessary restrictions, though the damage has already been done.

We need to learn how to live with the virus, and this means we cannot unjustifiably shut down large swathes of our economy, especially when cases are falling and the Omicron variant is less severe.

Therefore, it’s crucial to reverse the collateral damage inflicted upon our businesses.

First and foremost, we need Welsh Government ministers to firmly rule out imposing future restrictions, unless the strongest possible data supports such a move.

After all, the latest round of restrictions now look to have been too aggressive, given that the current Omicron variant appears to be less severe.

For months headlines have been dominated by our robust booster jab rollout steaming ahead, and this also suggests that now would be wise to cut the self-isolation period to five days with a negative lateral flow on days five and six. The aim of this move, of course, is to keep the public and private sectors staffed. Granted, there will be some who are concerned about reducing the self-isolation period, but, as the UK Government has recognised, the Omicron variant has a shorter incubation period of two to four days between infection and symptom onset.

Businesses, regardless of how much revenue was lost, must also be entitled to additional financial support.

As a start, the current eligibility criteria – which requires businesses to have lost more than 60 per cent of their revenue – must be watered-down to give more businesses a fighting chance to bounce back post-pandemic.

But the Welsh Government must not stop there; Labour ministers need to work with their UK Government colleagues to beef-up job-seeker support schemes - such as by supporting the development of transferable skills - to enable people to work in a range of sectors, thus helping businesses to recruit staff more easily to fill vacancies. This would be in addition to a Covid Support Fund to further help those businesses improve their mitigation measures to keep staff and customers safe, such as having improved ventilation.

After all, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has ensured record funding flows from Westminster to Cardiff Bay—an extra £2.5 billion per year on average on top of its annual funding of £15.9 billion—and some of this can be used to finance parts of the initiatives that I’ve outlined.

There is too much at stake for our calls not to be answered, and we desperately need Welsh Labour Government Ministers to act quickly.