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Branson fights back with open letter as he pleads with government to save Virgin Atlantic


Richard Branson has warned that Virgin Atlantic will collapse unless it receives government support.

The Virgin Group boss said the airline needs taxpayer support in the form of a commercial loan.

It has been reported that the carrier is asking for up to £500m of public money.

Branson put out a tweet which attempts to counter some of the criticisms that have been levelled at his businesses:

In an open letter to Virgin Group employees, Branson wrote: “We will do everything we can to keep the airline going – but we will need Government support to achieve that in the face of the severe uncertainty surrounding travel today and not knowing how long the planes will be grounded for.

“This would be in the form of a commercial loan – it wouldn’t be free money and the airline would pay it back (as easyJet will do for the £600 million loan the Government recently gave them).

“The reality of this unprecedented crisis is that many airlines around the world need government support and many have already received it.

“Without it there won’t be any competition left and hundreds of thousands more jobs will be lost, along with critical connectivity and huge economic value.”

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      1. Sorry about the people he employs but his track record shows he doesn’t care much about them normally. Why should Britain subsidise this tax avoider? He could save them from his own private fortune if his employees are so important to him. This is the man who sued NHS England because he lost out on a contract.

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    2. The absolute nerve of these psychopaths is breath taking. Denmark has the answer to these leeches. Companies which pay out dividends to shareholders, buy back own shares or are registered in tax havens won’t be eligible for any of the country’s aid programs. The “to big to fail” syndrome has got to end. The privatise profit and socialise the losses that the right wing along with its propaganda machines never mention.
      No mention of the Tory “free market” mantra of the 70s now is their ?

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    7. I agree with all the comments here but would add that how strange it is that when companies like his Make money it’s all theirs and they avoid tax like the plague but when they start to lose cash they expect and demand that the very same tax payers they avoid adding to, give or lend them money. We bailed out the banks and look house they paid us back !!

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