Ed Miliband – 2020 Comments on Furlough Support

The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on 31 July 2020.

Many businesses still have little or no cash coming in, but are trying to do the right thing and save their employees’ jobs. They now face the stark choice of letting go of their staff or facing a hefty financial burden to keep them on.

Businesses in vastly different sectors and circumstances should not be treated in this uniform way, and it is clearly unfair and illogical for those employers still locked down and unable to trade. Unless Ministers recognise the scale of the jobs crisis and change course they will force employers to make cuts, and be culpable for thousands of workers across the country losing their jobs and livelihoods.

Labour is calling on the Government to end their damaging blanket approach to ending furlough support before it is too late, and to target support at the hardest hit sectors. This would encourage businesses to stick with workers and not make them redundant now, which is inevitable unless government changes course.