Sunak gimmicks won’t save jobs

■ THE Chancellor’s half-hearted bid to revive the economy with gimmicks such as £10 off a meal out or giving employers £1,000 to keep staff on will do little to halt the massive rise in unemployment.

It’s already starting to happen with John Lewis, Boots and Burger King all announcing store closures (Mirror, July 11).

Unless the Government supports workers in transport, on the high street, in entertainment and other service sectors, millions of jobs will be lost and won’t return even after Covid-19 is eradicated.

We need investment in green technologies and a programme to build hundreds of thousands of social homes instead of cutting stamp duty. At the very least, the benefits system need to be far more generous.

Brett Grainger, Rugeley, Staffs

■ For too long many families have been struggling to put food on the table. The pandemic has magnified the seriousness of the situation. Handing out £10 food vouchers to those who can afford to eat in a restaurant early on in the week will not address the scale of the crisis. Foodbanks have reported a surge in demand in the pandemic, yet Rishi Sunak chose to ignore the plight of those struggling to get by. He is being touted by Tory activists as Johnson’s successor – but if he continues to come up with similar hare-brained schemes his chances of becoming PM will surely diminish rapidly.

Shaun Shute, Gloucester

■ The Chancellor’s £30million mini budget is nowhere near enough to save our struggling economy.

Compare it to France and Germany which have announced economic measures worth £98billion and £116billion respectively (Mirror, July 10).

Offering 50% off a meal in a pub or restaurant up to £10 is hardly going to kick-start our economy.

It looks very much like Britain is facing a 1930s-style Great Depression –so well done to all those who deserted Labour for this shower. Dave Mellor, Warrington

■ The day after Rishi Sunak’s budget, three big high street names announced plans to close shops, risking thousands of jobs. This is on top of the 150,000 that have gone already in the pandemic.

Can someone please enlighten me as to how giving everyone £10 off a meal in a restaurant will help struggling families?

Like everything this shambolic Government does, the budget was short on substance and big on hype. How we will get through the next few years God only knows. Steve Grant, Southport

■ When asked what could derail a government, former Tory PM Harold Macmillan once famously stated, “events, dear boy, events”.

In 2010, when the Tories took power, the country was in debt to the tune of 40% of GDP. Today that figure has risen to more than 100%.

So, after 10 years of austerity we are two and a half times deeper in debt. Progress? I don’t think so. Ron Bardwell

Royal Wootton Bassett, Wilts

■ The Chancellor delivering meals in a restaurant was such a shallow publicity stunt. Sunak’s mini budget won’t help put food on the table for those who have lost jobs.

And who wants to go out to crowded bars and restaurants with a real risk of contracting the virus? D J Sewell, Redcar, North Yorks

■ The Chancellor may think his cheap meal idea was a good one, but what about the many who can’t afford to eat out or those who are too afraid of the virus to go to a pub or restaurant?

The phrase ‘back to the drawing board’ springs to mind.

Margaret McAlister, Rotherham