Rishi: Budget will provide help for rest of pandemic
RISHI Sunak is throwing more money at jobs in next week’s Budget – after unemployment hit its highest level for five years.
Giving a glimpse of what the public could expect next Wednesday, the Chancellor hinted his furlough scheme could be extended into the summer.
Other measures to boost businesses and help workers were hinted at by Mr Sunak and the Prime Minister yesterday.
The spoke as the latest figures showed unemployment hit 5.1 per cent between October and December – a rise from five per cent in the previous three months and its highest since early 2016. But Mr Sunak said: “I know how incredibly tough the past year has been for everyone, and every job lost is a personal tragedy.
“At the Budget next week I will set out the next stage of our Plan For Jobs, and the support we’ll provide through the remainder of the pandemic and our recovery.”
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson promised the Government would “continue to put our arms around everybody” when asked about the jobless figures.
During a visit to a school in south London, he said: “Some sectors have been changing in the last few years and will continue to change, maybe that has been accelerated by the pandemic.
“What we’ll do is continue to put our arms around everybody in the country to look after them throughout the pandemic.
“You know about the kickstart funds available to help people from job to job, get young people into new jobs...and you’ll be hearing a lot more about that and the Chancellor’s Plan For Jobs next week.”
In other positive news, the Office for National Statistics revealed the number of workers on company payrolls rose by 83,000 last month.
It was the second monthly rise in a row. Overall there were 726,000 fewer workers on the books last month than before the start of the pandemic. Nearly 60 per cent of those affected – 425,000 people – were aged under 25.
Unemployment stood at 1.7 million between October and December, up 454,000 over the year, marking the biggest annual increase since the financial crisis.
Employment Minister Mims Davies said: “Today’s figures highlight the challenges people are still facing. But there are glimmers of hope with employment relatively stable, over 600,000 people moving on to payrolls and hours worked up.” The furlough scheme – where the Treasury funds most of the wages of staff unable to work due to Covid restrictions – has helped protect millions of jobs.
But concerns are growing about a surge in unemployment when the support finally ends.
The Bank of England has forecast that the jobless rate will soar to almost eight per cent by the middle of this year.
However, Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the Office for National Statistics, said: “The latest monthly tax figures show tentative early signs of the labour market stabilising.”
Ahead of the Budget, a Government agency yesterday announced an initiative to help small and medium-sized firms secure new export contracts.
UK Export Finance will operate a loan guarantee scheme – the Standard Buyer Loan Guarantee – to help overseas firms get finance to buy products from British companies. Exports Minister Graham Stuart said: “This will help our exporters reach buyers they would otherwise miss.”
Elsewhere a former Treasury minister urged the Chancellor to consider a “moderate rise” in corporation tax in the upcoming Budget.
Tory backbencher Simon Clarke warned it would be “nothing short of immoral to mortgage our children and grandchildren’s futures to chance” by resisting measures to fix the over-stretched public finances”.
GETTING the country back to full employment must be the top priority for Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Every effort must be made to spare young people a confidence-crushing bout of unemployment. Likewise, older workers who are now on the dole need real hope they will soon be back in a satisfying job.
Rightly, the Chancellor has promised to keep support in place for the “remainder of the pandemic”. This is a welcome indication he will not pull the plug on the furlough scheme which has prevented millions of families suffering a financial crisis.
With the jobless rate hitting 5.1 per cent, Mr Sunak may well yet again have to summon up the courage to invest so that would-be workers will have both the skills and the opportunities to earn a living.
The horrors of unemployment have brought suffering, fear and hardship to families with profound consequences both for those out of work and their children.
Not only is it a moral imperative that good jobs are created, it is also an economic necessity. Britain cannot afford to let the talents of millions go to waste; we must not squander our greatest natural resource.
We will only return to prosperity if the skills of people from every background are nurtured and unleashed. We must not miss the opportunity to lead the world in green technology, and new infrastructure is urgently needed throughout the UK.
Mr Sunak must make sure everyone has the chance to work for our national revival.