Bexley Council have called an article from the Daily Telegraph "completely untrue" after the newspaper claimed the council had handed out less than half of their Covid-19 'lifeline grants.'

In a statement from Cllr Cafer Munur, cabinet member for regeneration and growth for the borough of Bexley, said they have "done all we can" to support local businesses.

This comes after an article published by the Daily Telegraph in which they claim that the south east London council has "handed out less than half of their Restart Grants."

In Bexley Council's statement, they assert that the true figure is actually 98% - with just 2% of the Government Restart Grant funding not yet allocated.

This means a total of £5.758 million has been allocated through the fund, whilst more than £7.17 million has been given out to local Bexley businesses since their Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG) scheme was launched in December 2020, the council said.

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Cllr Munur said: "Since the pandemic began we have done all we can to support our local businesses.

"As a result of all this work I’m pleased to say that Bexley has handed out all of its ARG allocation within the allotted time. We were in fact heavily oversubscribed.

"To say that we have not done our bit and that we have failed to handout what is due to local business men and women is completely untrue."

The councillor continued: "At each opportunity we have made local businesses aware of the chance to apply for ARG and other government grants.

"Our teams have gone above and beyond to encourage applications and have done all they can to make the application process as easy as possible, while carrying out anti-fraud checks required by the Government.

"We know that local businesses are the lifeblood of our community and we know how they have suffered over the past year."