Starmer fears over furlough ‘cliff-edge’ for dependent workers
Sir Keir Starmer has raised concerns about a potential financial “cliff-edge” for hundreds of thousands of people if the government’s furlough scheme is ended in June, after reports that Chancellor Rishi Sunak wants it to be wound up from July.
The Labour leader said while “damage” to the economy from lockdown “needed to be kept to a minimum” he urged the Chancellor to adjust and extend the current job retention scheme. However he did not back the suggestion that a universal basic income (UBI) needed to be introduced quickly.
In a virtual interview, he said: “Where some businesses go back to work sooner than others they need flexibility so it’s not all or nothing,” he said. “And we can’t have a cliff-edge at the end of June when the furlough scheme runs out. Furloughing ends in June and if it’s not extended, from next week businesses will have to start redundancy processes.
“UBI is a medium to long term issue, the practical issue in the next week is are those furlough schemes going to be extended, becauseifthey’renotalotof employersaregoingtohave to start statutory consultation exercises. The danger there is the good work done by the furlough so far in keeping people in their jobs will be lost.
“UBI isn’t something we have supported that and there’s a healthy debate going on, but I’m focused on the furlough scheme at the moment.”
His comments came as Scottish ministers Fiona Hyslop and Kate Forbes revealed they had written to Mr Sunak calling for assurances that Scottish companies and workers will not be disadvantaged when decisions are made about scaling back the scheme.
The letter urges the adoption of a “measured approach”, and stresses the importance of taking Scotland’s specific economic and public health circumstances into account when decisions about the future of the scheme are made.
They said the “ability to stagger the closure of the scheme may be beneficial in considering how we safely exit the restrictions currently in place”.