Yesterday the Chancellor announced our Winter Economy Plan, the next phase of our planned economic response to Coronavirus which will help to protect jobs and support businesses over the months ahead.
- There are reasons to be cautiously optimistic: thanks to our comprehensive and generous response in March, we have seen three consecutive month of economic growth, millions of people have moved off the furlough and back to work, and consumer spending is returning.
- But the resurgence of the virus threatens our recovery. Now it is clear we have to live with coronavirus for months to come, this means the economy cannot return to exactly as it looked in March and the economic rationale for the next phase of support must be different to that which came before.
- The measures set out yesterday focus on dealing with the problems businesses face right now – supporting viable jobs through a time of depressed demand:
- Our Job Support Scheme directly funds businesses to protect these viable jobs and people’s wages, rather than laying employees off through a difficult winter.
- We have also acted to minimise the strains on companies’ cashflows so they can focus their resources on supporting employment. Pay as You Grow will cut Bounce Back loan repayments by almost half by extending the loans to 10 years, the extension to our temporary VAT cut to Spring 2021 will support vulnerable hospitality and tourism businesses, and our new payment plans will allow companies to defer VAT and tax liabilities for a further year.
- Our Job Support Scheme directly funds businesses to protect these viable jobs and people’s wages, rather than laying employees off through a difficult winter.
- These plans will give businesses the support they need to bring people back to work and protect as many viable jobs as we can, helping to get them through the uncertain and difficult months ahead.
It has now been three days since the Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green said coronavirus was a ‘good crisis’ to exploit, and she has still not apologised, showing that Labour are more interested in playing politics than working in the national interest.
- When Sir Keir Starmer became Labour leader, he said he would work constructively with us through the coronavirus pandemic, not just opposition for opposition’s sake.
- But three days on, and his Shadow Education Secretary has still not apologised for her appalling comments saying, ‘I think we should use this opportunity, don’t let a good crisis go to waste’.
- Sir Keir Starmer should condemn these comments. His continued failure to take action can only be seen as an endorsement of playing party politics with this crisis.
Today we are announcing that over 100 towns in England will benefit from an immediate £80 million funding boost, helping to drive regeneration so they can build back better.
- This People’s Government was elected on a promise to level up and spread opportunity across every part our United Kingdom – and we are determined to deliver on that pledge.
- That is why, through our £3.6 billion Towns Fund, we are today delivering an immediate £80 million funding boost for over 100 towns, helping them to thrive with new investment in transport, technology, skills and culture.
- This will give towns and high streets across the county the opportunity to drive economic growth and improve prospects for their communities, helping them to build back better as we recover from coronavirus.
Yesterday new statistics revealed that the number of nurses working in the NHS is now at a record high, showing that we are delivering on our commitment to deliver 50,000 nurses by the end of this Parliament.
- The coronavirus pandemic has confirmed what we already knew – that our NHS and all its staff deliver the best care in the world, and we must strive to make sure that this continues.
- That is why we have been taking action to ensure our NHS has the staff it needs to keep people safe, and new statistics show that our efforts have been paying off, with 14,199 more nurses compared to last year, and 9,283 more doctors.
- We have protected the NHS, and we are investing record sums into the NHS, hiring more doctors and nurses so that the NHS is always there for people and their families.
