Britain is facing a wave of redundancies after Rishi Sunak said that the government was no longer willing to subsidise the wages of people in jobs that would not otherwise exist.
The chancellor confirmed that it was time for the economy to “move forward” as he announced that ministers would now provide support only for viable jobs.
He said that it would be “fundamentally wrong” to extend the furlough scheme, which has paid 80 per cent of workers’ wages, amid concerns that it is propping up roles that would otherwise have been scrapped.
The government has been borrowing record amounts to protect the economy during the Covid-19 crisis. The figure rose by £35.9bn last month, the most for an August since records began in
