Daniel Zeichner MP has reacted with sadness to the news that hundreds of Cambridge staff will lose their jobs at Booking.com and reiterated calls for the Government to offer more support to struggling parts of the economy.

Around 400 staff work who for the company will face redundancy, as their office at the Westbrook centre is earmarked for closure.

Booking.com which is the world’s number-one online hotels and accommodation website has been hit hard by the Covid pandemic. It is first quarter of this year the company recorded a loss of almost $700 million. In March they had more cancellations than new bookings.

Daniel Zeichner MP who has visited the site several times, and worked closely with the company on concerns about transfers of data between the UK and the EU, which remain unresolved said:

“Tourism has been decimated by the global pandemic. The Cambridge centre was always a productive site because of the highly skilled and trained staff with amazing language skills. It was fascinating visiting and hearing French, Polish, Greek and Hungarian all spoken in the blink of an eye. I am so sorry for the staff affected, some of whom have been in touch with me today.

World-class highly specialised staff in Cambridge and across the UK are facing a jobs crisis, as jobs that have existed for over a decade disappear. With many businesses still unable to get back to pre-pandemic levels of business, the Government’s one-size-fits-all approach to withdrawing support is putting jobs at risk.

I also remain concerned about the impact of Brexit – these are jobs that can be in continental Europe as well as Britain – and when the chips are down, that may feel like a better bet to company bosses.”