There was a time when the announcement of new Treasury spending tended to spell good news. However, these days it usually means that something has gone wrong on coronavirus. This afternoon, the Chancellor confirmed a shift in policy — new support packages for workers. Employees at UK firms that are forced to shut by law will now be eligible for two-thirds of their wages to be paid by the government. The scheme is estimated to cost at least hundreds of millions a month.
In some quarters, this is being labelled as a U-turn — given Rishi Sunak’s previous insistence that there could be no extension of the scheme. What is being offered is not only less generous than what came before, it is more targeted. While a lot of industries are currently able to operate — at least in some capacity — this announcement lays the groundwork for a time when this is no longer the case.
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