, Labour’s
Shadow Chancellor, has condemned the Tories for voting to put
millions of jobs at risk and pledged Labour will do “everything
we can to save jobs” as the Chancellor’s furlough cliff edge
approaches.
Her warning comes as analysis by Labour has revealed that
over four million UK jobs across the country were still fully
furloughed by their employer in the middle of August.
This means nearly half of all workers who were moved onto the
Government’s Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS) in the
early phase of the Covid-19 crisis remain fully furloughed by
their employer over four months later.
Regional breakdowns show that over half a million jobs are at
risk in both London and the South East, over 450,000 in the North
West and almost 400,000 in the East of England.
Over two and a half million people had also made claims under the
Coronavirus Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) by the
end of July. The final phase of that scheme opened last
month.
Today the Conservatives voted to put those jobs and livelihoods
at risk by pushing ahead with a one-size-fits-all withdrawal of
both the CJRS and SEISS schemes across the entire economy by the
end of October.
Businesses in the hardest-hit sectors are still operating well
below capacity and, with coronavirus cases rising again, it looks
highly unlikely that they will be back to normal in just six
weeks’ time. October’s deadline is a cliff-edge that could lead
to a massive spike in unemployment.
Labour is calling for targeted income support to businesses and
self-employed people in the sectors of the economy hit hardest
hit by the virus. But when Labour’s proposal was put to a vote
today, the Tories defeated it.
,
said:
“The Conservatives have voted to put over four million jobs at
risk by ploughing ahead with their disastrous one-size-fits-all
withdrawal of wage support across the economy.
“The Chancellor is convinced that “any deviation” from his plan
will damage the UK economy. Labour will hold him to that when
wage support ends at the end of October.
“And we will do everything we can to save jobs in the weeks
running up to the Chancellor’s furlough cliff edge.
Ends
Note to editors:
• Jobs at risk by UK region
• On Wednesday 9 September 2020 Labour held an Opposition
Day Debate on the Protection of Jobs and Businesses. The text of
the motion was:
That this House calls for the government to abandon its
one-size-fits-all withdrawal of the Coronavirus Job Retention and
Self-Employment Income Support Schemes, and instead offer
targeted income support to businesses and self-employed people in
those sectors of the economy that have been hardest hit by the
virus and are most in need of continuing assistance, and in those
areas of the country which have been placed under local
restrictions due to rising rates of infection.
• Labour’s motion was defeated by 329 votes to 249, and
substituted for the Government’s motion, which read:
Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “welcomes the
Government’s response to Covid-19 which has already protected the
livelihoods of over 12 million people through the eight-month
long Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income
Support Scheme; acknowledges the support for hundreds of
thousands of businesses up and down the country through
unprecedented loan schemes, business grants and tax cuts; further
welcomes the help to support, create, and protect jobs through
measures such as the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, a temporary cut
to VAT and stamp duty, increased incentives for apprenticeships,
and the new Kickstart Scheme, as set out in the Government’s
‘Plan for Jobs’ policy paper published in July; and further
acknowledges that any deviation from this Government’s proposed
plan will cause damage to the United Kingdom economy.”
• HMRC have released data on the cumulative total number of
employments furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
by constituency. It has also released data on the number of
employments furloughed on each day of the scheme, up to and
including 30 June 2020. According to this data, the number of
employments furloughed nationally on 30 June was 6,815,500 – 71%
of the cumulative total of 9,601,700 employments furloughed
nationally. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-august-2020
• The ONS Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey shows that
between 15 and 28 June 2020, 17.4% of the workforce were on
furlough leave. The most recent period (10 to 23 August 2020)
show this figure at 10.9%. This suggests that of the cumulative
total of employments furloughed nationally, around 44% were still
fully furloughed in mid-August. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronavirustheukeconomyandsocietyfasterindicators/latest
• HMRC has also released data on the total number of
Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) claims made to 31st
July 2020 by constituency. This shows that in total 2,597,000
claims have been made. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/self-employment-income-support-scheme-statistics-august-2020
