Simon Cowell & Duncan Bannatyne slam Richard Branson and Victoria Beckham for using taxpayer cash to pay staff

SIMON Cowell and Duncan Bannatyne have taken aim at celebs like Richard Branson and Victoria Beckham for seeking taxpayer cash to pay their staff and save their companies.

Both Cowell and Bannatyne have both said they are using their own means to pay staff or keep their companies afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic.

⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

Virgin boss Branson has asked for a £500million taxpayer bailout to save Virgin Atlantic from collapse.

And meanwhile, Beckham told 30 employees at her fashion brand they are going to be put on a the Government's job retention scheme which pays up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

Dragon's Den star Bannatyne - who has a net worth of £300million - took to Twitter as he blasted Sir Richard during a row with another user.

He wrote: "I have gone to the Bank NOT the UK tax payer. The bank.

"A viable business will get money from a Bank."

The magnate also hit out at Branson's offer to mortgage Necker Island, his home in the Caribbean, as collateral with the UK government for a "commercial loan" - appearing to question whether it was worth the required sum.

Music mogul Cowell - who has an estimated net worth of £385million - meanwhile has agreed to continue to pay 50 full time staff who work at his Syco production company in London and Los Angeles.

He assured staff they will not be placed on furlough even though production has ceased on his TV shows in Britain and the US.

Meanwhile, Cowell continues to pay almost double the number of staff who Beckham - who along with husband David has an estimated net worth of £769million - has decided to furlough.

The X-Factor star also last month donated £1.3million to help charities struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Former Spice Girl Victoria meanwhile has been left "upset" after backlash over the decision to use the taxpayer scheme.

An insider told The Sun that Beckham was having the "worst week" after the criticism, with Piers Morgan being among voices slamming the fashion designer.

More than 140,000 companies employing a total of about a million workers have applied to the government's job furlough scheme.

Resolution Foundation, a UK based think tank, has estimated up to 8million UK workers could be furloughed - and predicted a total fee of at least £4.2billion over three months for the taxpayer based on day one applications alone.

And it is feared lockdown measures are not going to lift anytime soon, with chief medical officer Chris Whitty warning they could last into 2021.

Britain's total death toll rose again today to 18,100 thousand amid hopes the UK has now passed the first the peak of the crisis.