Rishi Sunak: the Rolls-Royce of U-turns?
“Rishi Sunak drove his Rolls-Royce Treasury machine into the House of Commons last week and made an illegal U-turn in the chamber, in broad daylight, then carried on as if nothing had happened,” said John Rentoul in The Independent. The Chancellor came to announce that he was once again changing his already twice-amended Winter Economy Plan. The Job Support Scheme – set to replace the furlough scheme on 1 November – would be made more generous to ease the anxiety created by Covid restrictions. Billions of pounds in extra help would go to businesses in areas with Tier 2 lockdowns, along with more support for part-time and self-employed workers. His statement was clear, concise and full of “bipartisan reasonableness”: all in all, a “stunning performance”. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, was “certainly stunned”. “Why on earth”, he wondered, had this not been put on the table earlier in the week? It would have allowed him to reach a deal with the Government about a rescue package for Manchester.
The Chancellor’s statement will have caused glasses to be raised in pubs and bars across England – or “at least in those allowed to remain open”, said The Times. For many firms, the new measures “may be the difference between life and death”. Yet “the mystery is why Mr Sunak did not act sooner”. All the problems with the original scheme – especially the lack of respite for Tier 2 businesses – have been clear for weeks. And it is not the first time that he has “looked flat-footed”. It was hardly unexpected that Britain would face a second wave this winter. But whereas other countries have been able to support jobs and businesses with existing programmes that are “better targeted and cost less”, it is troubling that, eight months into this crisis, the Treasury under Sunak is “still having to improvise with ad hoc arrangements”.
Given the disastrous effects of local lockdowns, Sunak certainly had to take action, said The Daily Telegraph. But his largesse cannot last forever. If no effective vaccine is found, “will the lockdowns continue and, if so, the financial support”? Britain needs urgently to “interrogate the underlying assumptions driving policy”. Are these harsh Covid restrictions necessary and proportionate, and do they actually work? At the moment, the UK has a relatively poor record on handling the virus balanced by a terrible economic performance, and massive emergency spending. Critics are entitled to ask: “Is this a middle way, or is it the worst of both worlds?”