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Sunak refuses to save jobs by extending furlough scheme

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has spurned calls to extend the furlough scheme with targeted measures to slow widespread job losses, saying that the support cannot go on “indefinitely.”

The scheme has so far cost £33.8 billion, supporting 9.6 million workers during the coronavirus crisis, and has entered a cut-off process that will end in October.

During a trip to Glasgow today, Mr Sunak warned that there was “hardship ahead for many people” as he again ruled out extending the job-retention scheme, claiming that it would not be “fair” to the people on it.

“We shouldn’t pretend there is in every case a job to go back to,” he said.

He declined to extend the measure even for sectors unable to return to work, such as the entertainment industry with theatres still shut.

The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, warned that “thousands of people could lose their jobs unnecessarily” and that cutting the scheme prematurely was “a grave mistake” that would increase the risk of mass redundancies. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for a targeted extension to prevent a “jobs crisis on a scale not seen for generations.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “We need to act now to prevent an avalanche of redundancies in the autumn. 

“The job retention scheme — which unions called for — proved what we can do, saving millions from the dole queue. My message to the government is: don’t throw it all away.

Around 7,960 job losses have been announced in major redundancies this week as many businesses try to minimise loss of profits from the pandemic.

The Evening Standard became the latest to announce redundancies, with around 115 jobs to be axed following a loss of advertising revenue.

Today some 4,000 British Airways workers received letters telling them they had been made redundant under previously announced plans.

The Unite union said that BA workers are “being forced out of the jobs that they love by naked, company greed.”

The union’s assistant general secretary, Howard Beckett, said: “These workers have given years of dedicated service to this company, some as many as 40 years, and indeed to our country, as many were involved in the repatriation of British citizens at the outset of this pandemic.”

GMB national officer Rachel Harrison said: “Healthcare workers have not only kept our NHS running throughout this pandemic, and cared for the health of our country, they have endured a decade of real-terms pay cuts. Now is the time to tell the government enough is enough.”

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