During this outbreak of COVID-19 more support is needed for our hard-working taxi drivers and the companies who employ them.

Over the weekend we have seen drivers that have been struggling to make enough to cover the cost of renting their vehicles, due to people rightly staying at home and limiting their social contact.

This is now leaving many leaseholder drivers having to make the hard decision to return their vehicles and now can no longer work and provide for their families.

I am supporting the calls from Unite the Union and the RMT that taxi drivers, who have already got the right safeguarding checks from the local authority, should be used to meet the urgent need for a trusted, high-quality drop off service to connect people from their home to shops, pharmacies and other critical services.

Therefore, I believe that the Government should use taxis to create a fifth emergency service during the Coronavirus emergency, to provide help those in greatest need and provide a full support scheme for those workers who choose to put their health first and choose to stop working all together.

More support is needed from the Government to ensure that these taxi drivers are helped during this time so that they can operate again after this is over, without any support the industry will lose these drivers for good and may never recover.

The Government is doing a lot, but it can and should do more to help these key workers during this uncertain time.