Shropshire Star comment: Damage limitation ahead of wishful thinking
The Chancellor’s decision to extend the furlough scheme is one that we can all get behind.
Businesses can now use the scheme to pay their workers until the end of October, meaning that many firms can look to the future without the prospect of having to make redundancies. While the Government’s decision is a welcome one, it also paves the way for our route out of lockdown.
With more people returning to work over the coming weeks, fewer businesses will become reliant on the state for support. During the lockdown the demands on the Treasury have been unprecedented.
A quarter of the workforce – some 7.5 million people – are currently furloughed, at a cost £14 billion a month.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies economic think tank estimates the scheme will have cost nearly £100bn by October.
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Under the new rules, millions of workers could end up being furloughed for a period of eight months, at which point the level of subsidy is reduced and employers are expected to pay more of a contribution.
While the scheme is incredibly costly, it is also entirely necessary.
The cost to Britain’s economy of a huge spike in unemployment would be equally as high in the short term, and far more damaging in the coming years, as firms disappeared and job opportunities reduced. Without this extension, many businesses say they would have started redundancy consultations as early as this week.
Although workers and businesses now have more time to plan for the future, it is clear that the country needs to start preparing for a return to some form of normality, where furloughed staff can be phased back into their old jobs. There is no easy solution here, and both government and industry will need to be flexible in the coming weeks and months.
In an ideal world no one would lose their job due to this devastating virus and businesses would pick up as normal once the pandemic faded.
Sadly, it is wishful thinking to believe in such an outcome.
The very best we can hope for is damage limitation.
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Garden centres have today opened their doors for the first time since the start of the lockdown.
This is fantastic news for the centres themselves, which will undoubtedly be relieved to get back to business at a time when trade is usually at a peak.
It has certainly come at the perfect time.
Over the past six weeks, growers have been forced to throw away millions of plants after key sales dates came and went with the doors firmly bolted shut.
Of course, the move is also great for the thousands of gardeners across our region, who will now be able to spend more time outdoors tending to their own gardens.
While it is pleasing to see our garden centres trading once again, it is vital all customers adhere to social distancing measures.
This advice – to stay two metres apart at all times – could not be more clear.
We should all bear in mind that this will only increase in importance once more and more different types of businesses start to reopen their doors in the coming weeks.
