Ministers accused of 'chaotic decision making' over furlough plans
The Government's "chaotic decision making" over furlough will have cost jobs and made life "very difficult" for employers, an MP has claimed.
Labour MP Pat McFadden hit out at Chancellor Rishi Sunak's "chopping and changing" of plans to extend support for workers, and urged Ministers to get a grip on test and tracing so future problems with the scheme could be avoided.
Mr Sunak announced last week that furlough would be extended until March, having initially planned to finish it at the end of October, saying the Government had responded to "changing circumstances" of the virus.
Shadow City Minister Mr McFadden, the MP for Wolverhampton South East, said: "This is the fourth economic plan in almost as many weeks and although we have reached a better place in the end with the continuation of furlough, you have to ask how many jobs were lost because businesses and workers were being told time after time that furlough would end and employers would have to decide which jobs were viable and which were not?
"All the chopping and changing has been very difficult for employers and workers to keep up with and points to chaotic decision making in Government.
"A great many problems could have been avoided had the Government accepted weeks ago that the tiered system was not going to work and something like this was necessary.
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"As things stand it looks like the Government thinks this will be a long haul.
"We have to use that time wisely to get on top of the testing and tracing and get a better grip on the rise in infections we have seen in recent months."
Suzanne Webb, the Conservative MP for Stourbridge, welcomed the furlough extension – as well as further support for the self-employed and businesses, saying it was "absolutely right the government continues to step in and help.
"It could well mean the difference between businesses folding or staying alive to bounce back again when these terrible times are over," she said.
"It also gives families and businesses real security that they will be protected by the Government until the spring."
The furlough scheme will continue until March 2021 at 80 per cent of wages up to £2500 a month. Employers will only pay national insurance and pension costs.
Grants for the self-employed will also be paid at 80 per cent of average previous profits up to £7500 for November to January.
