UK - Thousands of companies and millions of jobs in Britain are at risk as the UK faces the biggest drop in GDP since the financial crisis. A senior economist has predicted that the economy is likely to contract in the coming weeks by as much as it did in more than a year during the 2008/9 financial crisis. Julian Jessop told the Daily Telegraph that GDP could drop by “6 percent” or “even worse” in just one quarter. He warned that a flood of bankruptcies of previously profitable companies would make a quick recovery in 2021 very unlikely. The sudden collapse in business has prompted major retailers to prepare an appeal to the Government for financial support. Kate Nicholls, the head of UK Hospitality, a trade body, said that without Government intervention, the hospitality sector “will run out of cash in about eight to 10 weeks”. Her comments came after some of the world’s biggest hotel chains reported a roughly 50 percent fall in room occupancy. Industry insiders say that if this continues, then many of the hotels could go out of business, leading to the loss of up to two million jobs.