Sunak mission to help young

Chancellor’s focus on education

RISHI SUNAK’S pledge to put education and training at the heart of Britain’s recovery from the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is to be applauded.

The Chancellor is right to focus on equipping the country with the qualifications and skills it needs in order to recover from what is inevitably going to be one of the most serious downturns in memory.

Projections of unemployment rising to three million or more illustrate the scale of the problems that lie ahead, many of which are still shrouded in uncertainty as Britain takes what are significant, but still tentative, steps out of lockdown. An early indication of how many people may be left out of work has been the 600,000 increase in the number of benefits claimants in the last month alone.

It remains unclear how many jobs will survive the scaling-down of Mr Sunak’s package of economic support later this year, including the furloughing of employees and grants for the self-employed.

In his exclusive interview with ,Mr Sunak places great emphasis on equipping young people with the skills to build postpandemic careers, which is very much to be welcomed.

There have been many tragedies as a result of Covid-19, and it would be another if, as Mr Sunak recognises, a lost generation of the young were to find their futures blighted.

That must be avoided at all costs, and Mr Sunak will set out the options for doing so in a major statement next month, which might include changes to the Apprenticeship Levy.

It must, though, be pointed out that the Chancellor’s commitment to education has been undermined by the Government’s failure to get children back to school. Nevertheless, his determination to do everything to support the young is laudable and deserves cross-party as well as national support.