Sunak using ‘peashooter against an elephant’

Sir, – The Chancellor’s pledge of an additional £30 billion of measures to support the economy is of course to be welcomed and brings the direct cost of Covid-19 interventions to over £311 billion (July 9 2020).

While a seemingly large sum, when one looks at the potential economic collapse coming down the line, this is unfortunately akin to using a peashooter against an elephant.

With the OECD predicting four million unemployed, bringing the unemployment rate to 11%, what the Chancellor has done is temporarily protect jobs and livelihoods rather than providing the stimulus needed to guarantee these jobs in the long-term and get the UK’s economy moving again.

We have seen VAT reduced to five per cent for the hospitality sector, but this is a fraction of the across-the-board cut that was made in response to the 2008 global financial crisis.

What we need is major investment to rebuild the economy and yet we have had the paltry amount of less than £10 billion being used for housing decarbonisation and green homes.

There is an immense amount of capital at very low prices for the government to borrow and invest, and this will not always be there.

The economy was already stuttering in the first quarter and has now fallen off a cliff, with the OECD predicting the UK economy will take the biggest hit in the industrialised world this year.

And that is before we fully exit the EU single market and the inevitable economic challenges that creates.

We need a genuine New Deal, with billions pumped into the economy through additional borrowing if we are not to leave an economic and social wasteland for both this and future generations.

Alex Orr.

2/3 Marchmont Road, Edinburgh.