After Business Questions today, Rishi Sunak will deliver his fourth update to the Winter Economy Plan (WEP) – a programme that now looks less like a plan and more like a panicky improvisation. Winter economic announcements will now have been made on 24 September, 9 October, 22 October, and 5 November. He is expected to extend the 80% furlough scheme beyond the lockdown for businesses that have to shut in Tier 3 areas in December. This is Rishi’s 12th Covid support package since becoming Chancellor; there’s a fine line between flexibility and incompetence…
Previously, Tier 3 furlough was only set at 67% of salaries. Today’s 20% post-lockdown furlough spending hike isn’t the only massive increase of cash to the system. The Bank of England has pumped a greater-than-expected further £150 billion of quantitative easing into the economy. Good luck to post-pandemic taxpayers…
