British finance minister Rishi Sunak warned of hardship ahead on Wednesday as he set out plans to protect jobs and limit the economic impact of the coronavirus.
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak reacts as he leaves Downing Street, in London, Britain July 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
Below are highlights of Sunak’s speech to parliament.
GOAL OF PLAN
“Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support, and create jobs. It will give businesses the confidence to retain and hire. To create jobs in every part of our country. To give young people a better start. To give people everywhere the opportunity of a fresh start.”
UNEMPLOYMENT
“I will never accept unemployment as an unavoidable outcome. We haven’t done everything we have so far just to step back now and say, ‘job done’. In truth, the job has only just begun.”
BUDGET
“I can tell the House we will produce a Budget and Spending Review in the autumn. And we will deal, too, with the challenges facing our public finances. Over the medium-term, we must, and we will put our public finances back on a sustainable footing.”
FURLOUGH SCHEME
“Leaving the furlough scheme open forever gives people false hope that it will always be possible to return to the jobs they had before. And the longer people are on furlough, the more likely it is their skills could fade, and they will find it harder to get new opportunities.
“It is in no-one’s long term interests for the scheme to continue forever.”
JOB RETENTION BONUS
“We’re introducing a new policy to reward and incentivize employers who successfully bring furloughed staff back – a new Jobs Retention Bonus.”
“If you’re an employer and you bring back someone who was furloughed - and continuously employ them through to January - we’ll pay you a 1,000-pound bonus per employee.”
“For businesses to get the bonus, the employee must be paid at least 520 pounds on average, in each month from November to the end of January.”