YVONNE FOVARGUE MP: Furlough scheme must be extended

The government’s favourite catchphrase is ringing more hollow than ever before. Far from levelling up, their actions risk doubling down on regional inequalities, and entrenching that imbalance for generations to come.

Jobs on the high street are being shed at an alarming rate, and you can barely go a day without hearing another grim announcement of mass redundancies.

Boots, Debenhams, WH Smith, John Lewis and many more household names have been forced to cut thousands of staff as the high street continues to fight for survival amidst plunging footfall. Just last week, Marks and Spencer announced 7,000 job losses.

I echo the warning that ministers’ indiscriminate severing of furlough support risks deepening and entrenching regional inequality.

Retail has been the hardest hit by mass redundancies since the coronavirus pandemic struck, with manufacturing and aviation also badly affected.

Tens of thousands of job losses have been announced and more redundancies are expected in these sectors, yet they have received no tailored support.

The impact of these devastating job losses is likely to be felt far more deeply by some areas of the UK based on the proportion of their workforce in these sectors, with local economies being written off by government as Britain enters recession.

The UK already has the worst regional inequalities in Europe and without targeted action, this is likely to get even worse.

For example, more than 10% (351,000 people) of the North West’s workforce is in the retail sector and over 318,000 jobs are in the manufacturing sector, the highest proportion anywhere in the UK.

With more than 25,000 people across the UK having lost their jobs in retail and more than 8,500 in manufacturing so far, the North West is likely to be hit hard by expected redundancies as furlough support is indiscriminately severed by government.

Ministers will be guilty of writing off parts of the UK as the country enters recession.

That’s why I am calling on the government to U-turn on its damaging blanket approach to withdrawing furlough, which fails to consider the circumstances of different sectors or the impact on the communities that have a proud history in these industries. I am not asking the government to promise indefinite support, but to think strategically.

Support should be properly targeted at the sectors and businesses that still need it if we are to avoid a huge spike in unemployment in the autumn. And it is vital that if public health measures must be flexible, the economic measures must be so too.

The government needs to do right by workers and businesses and see them through the crisis by targeting support. The current one size fits all approach will see the North West hit harder.

The U-turn on exam results once again demonstrates the incompetence of this Government. They had months to sort out exams but once again they have let down students, parents and teachers.

This is a victory for the thousands of young people who have made their voices heard this past week.

As Sir Keir Starmer said, “Incompetence has become this Government’s watchword, whether that is on schools, testing or care homes. Boris Johnson’s failure to lead is holding Britain back.”