KATE OSBORNE: The government must change course and extend the Job Retention Scheme

With so many countries being affected by the pandemic, it has brought about severe economic consequences right across the world.

As well as serious implications for people's health and our health and social care sector, the coronavirus outbreak continues to have a significant impact on businesses and the economy.

These difficulties have been worsened by Boris Johnson and his Conservative Government’s appalling handling of the crisis, which looks set to get even worse with their intended withdrawal of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on the 31st October.

The Job Retention Scheme, which was set up to support workers and save businesses from collapse, across the sectors, has helped to avoid widespread job losses and has provided welcome support for the 9.6 million workers and their employers.

The Government have already tried to remove the Job Retention Scheme and it was only because of the efforts of the trade unions, as well as public and parliamentary pressure that it was rightfully extended to the 31st October 2020.

This pandemic is not over and the rise in cases across the North East is extremely worrying.

There are still many businesses who are unable to trade as normal as they are not open to full capacity due to social distancing measures. There are also still businesses such as nightclubs that haven’t been able to open all.

These businesses are still reliant on the furlough scheme to pay their workers and should the furlough scheme close as proposed, could be faced with the difficult decision of making their workers redundant.

The Government must act and extend the job retention scheme beyond the end of October to prevent a large number of crippling job losses, not just in the Jarrow constituency but across the whole country.

Other countries such as France, Germany, Australia, and Ireland have taken decisive action to extend until next year to protect their economies and this government must follow suit.

With unemployment continuing to rise in South Tyneside at a time when coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly, the government must change course and extend the Job Retention Scheme or we will see mass redundancies that will severely damage our economy in the coming months and years ahead.

I’m not asking for the Job Retention Scheme to be indefinite, but this public health crisis is far from over, especially with so many businesses not being able to operate as normal.

During Prime Minister’s Questions earlier this month I asked for the extension of the Job Retention Scheme, but the Prime Minister flippantly refused to extend it further.

It seems as though the Prime Minister simply doesn’t care. We face a disastrous situation at the end of next month where people will be made redundant because they won’t have any jobs to go back to.

In the Jarrow constituency, the unemployment rate now stands at 8.1 per cent of the population aged 16-64, compared the UK rate of 6.5 per cent.

Last month, there were 4,140 claimants of unemployment related benefits in the Jarrow constituency, which was 1,605 higher than March 2020, before the lockdown began.

The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts a nightmare scenario where unemployment could top 4 million by the end of the year, with 1.3 million people going straight from furlough into joblessness.

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, unemployment could soar to almost 15% of the working population if the country experiences a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. This rise in the unemployment rate would take the UK to a higher level than France, Germany and Italy.

I have repeatedly stated that we’re far from through this crisis. Ending the Job Retention Scheme next month will significantly harm our economy in the long-term, and will lead to mass redundancies..

Boris Johnson may act like he does not care but his government must act in order to protect the future of our businesses and those in work.

And that’s why the government must extend the Job Retention Scheme.