A SURVEY of more than 200 West Midlands firms by the Country Land and Business Association has revealed that rural businesses need a lot more help.

Of the 204 firms surveyed, 28 had suffered 100 per cent losses, 203 workers had been laid off and the average turnover is 45 per cent down on predictions.

Frances Beatty, CLA regional director, said most firms forecast further lay-offs if the crisis continues.

"Farming, tourism and the whole structure of the West Midlands economy are intertwined," she said.

"We are now able to provide irrefutable evidence of the losses and hardships businesses are suffering.

"We have managed to persuade the government to provide an additional £120 million for the small business loan scheme. We shall keep pressing at local and national levels to keep in business the very people who will eventually be charged with the task of rebuilding the rural economy."