Pedestrians walk through central Glasgow as Britain enters a national lockdown in London on Tuesday. Scotland is to impose a nationwide coronavirus lockdown for the rest of January because of a surge in cases, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced. Photo: AFP

Britain's main business lobby on Tuesday urged the government to extend its furlough jobs support scheme and taxation holidays to help coronavirus-plagued firms.

With fears that thousands of small businesses could collapse, the Confederation of British Industry called on finance minister Rishi Sunak to act urgently, claiming firms could not afford to wait until his annual budget on March 3 for new measures.

"Many tough decisions for business owners on jobs, or even whether to carry on, will be made in the next few weeks," CBI Director-General Tony Danker said. "The government has done so much to support UK business through this crisis, [but] we don't want to let slip all the hard work from 2020 with hope on the horizon amid vaccine rollouts."

The CBI has urged Sunak to again extend the furlough scheme that is funding the bulk of wages for millions of private sector workers. 

The multibillion pound support plan, launched in March, is set to expire at the end of April but the CBI wants it to go on until the end of June.

The lobby group is also seeking deferred payments of value added taxation (VAT), and an extension to a pause in business rates levied on commercial property.

Much of the UK re-entered lockdown in January, with ­restrictions similar to the country's initial ­COVID-19 curbs imposed mostly during the second quarter of 2020.

The UK government has spent about 300 billion pounds ($400 billion) in emergency measures to stem chronic economic fallout, sending Treasury debt soaring.

And recent data showed that Britain's economy slumped 2.6 percent in November from October, stoking fears that the current lockdown could spark a double-dip recession.

Danker meanwhile added that he hoped to see improved business regulatory rules after Britain finally departed the EU's single market at the start of the year.