The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a £30 billion spending programme, in the face of mass unemployment and a prolonged economic crisis following the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement to the House of Commons Mr Sunak revealed a series of measures:
– Firms will be paid a thousand pounds for each employee brought back from furlough, and kept in employment until at least January next year
– For the under 25s there’s a £2 billion pound scheme to create thousands of job placements and get young people into work
– Stamp duty has been temporarily suspended on property sales up to £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland.
– VAT will be cut from 20% to 5% on food, accommodation and attractions, until next January
– During August there will be 50% off meals in participating restaurants, worth up to £10 a head, from Monday to Wednesday
Many businesses have been struggling with a difficult decision on what to do with their furloughed employees in the months ahead. The job retention bonus scheme is offering to pay £1,000 to employers for each furloughed employee brought back and kept in work until the end of January 2021. The employee must be paid at least £520 a month.
The furlough scheme will end in October. It will have been the biggest state economic intervention since the Second World War. So what will the chancellor’s new measures cost — and how will the Treasury pay for it all?
Huw Edwards presents BBC News at Ten reporting from Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg, Political Correspondent Alex Forsyth, Sarah Corker in Manchester, Business Correspondent Darshini David and Business Editor Simon Jack.
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