United Kingdom to announce £ 500 million funding to renew job support programmes
The Chancellor to the Exchequer, United Kingdom (U.K.) – Rishi Sunak will today, i.e., Monday, October 4, 2021, announce £ 500 million funding to renew job support programmes.
The announcement will be made during his first in person conference speech as the Chancellor. He will announce to “double down” on help for the jobs market that have been impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), amidst other schemes.
Speaking on the occasion, Sunak said, “At the start of this crisis I made a promise to do whatever it takes, and I’m ready to double down on that promise now as we come out of this crisis.”
He will also announce to reshape the economy around technology and scientific innovation. The announcement comes in the backdrop of pressure on Boris Johnson’s Government over living standards.
The rising food and energy prices and cuts to universal credit benefits, have sparked warnings of a squeeze on incomes. Besides, the military is also set to begin delivery of fuel to petrol stations after U.K. faced severe crisis of labour.
Announcing his first in person speech as Chancellor, Sunak tweeted,
Join me live from 11.50am for my first in person conference speech as Chancellor. #CPC21 pic.twitter.com/g1p48wQc8F
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 4, 2021
Sunak will extend the Kickstart Scheme, which subsidises eligible jobs for young people on universal credit, by 3 months to March 2022. Launched in September 2021, the scheme got £ 2 billion in funding to create 250,000 jobs by the end of 2021. Of this, only 76,900 have actually started Kickstart roles.
Sunak will also promise to make the U.K. the ‘most exciting place on the planet’ through better infrastructure and improved skills. His speech will come on the second day of conference, known as Business Day, when the political party seeks to showcase its commercial credentials and boost ties with industry.
Ahead of his first in-person conference, Sunak praised the U.K.’s economic recovery but warned the job is not done yet. Appointed just weeks before the first COVID-19 lockdown, he has been signing off unprecedented splurge of public spending. He has long argued a pragmatic response to a crisis. The biggest challenge he has in hand is of resolving the supply chain issue which has disrupted the supply of fuel and other items.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA), a U.K. based trade body of road haulage estimated the U.K.
is short of about 100,000 Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers. The COVID-19 and the post-Brexit rules have further made it difficult to have drivers on board. To resolve the issue, the Government has already announced a temporary visa scheme allowing 5,000 drivers to work in U.K.
Apart from this, Boris Johnson has ruled out the possibility of not increasing the taxes again saying, “If I can possibly avoid it, I do not want to raise taxes again.”
