Amazon has taken 40 per cent of the £5 billion new online spend during the pandemic, according to a senior MP.

Shadow minister for digital, culture, media and sport Chi Onwurah revealed the numbers in a parliamentary debate this week, where she said that small businesses are afraid they won’t make it through the winter.

“Of the £5 billion of new online spend because of the pandemic, 40 per cent has gone to one website – Amazon,” she said.

Onwurah added that the government had shown a lack of support for small businesses and that SMEs also have Brexit, climate and technological change to grapple with.

The shadow minister called for firm commitments to help small companies invest in technologies and target procurements to support net zero business.

She asked the minister: “what the plan is for small businesses to survive COVID-19 and build back smarter and greener, not vague promises but firm commitments to help businesses invest in new technologies as Make UK has called for or target procurement to support net zero business as the Institute for Civil Engineering proposes. Or is the government just going to let businesses down again?”

Earlier this month Amazon reported record worldwide sales of $4.8 billion during the Black Friday weekend.

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