Whole sectors were kept afloat by the furlough scheme, but now they’re being abandoned. There is another way
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There is a history with the Conservatives and unemployment. Those with long memories remember Norman Lamont saying in 1991 that unemployment was a price “well worth paying” to get inflation down and before him, John Major said, “If it isn’t hurting, it isn’t working”. They lived with these phrases for years to come – they were emblematic of a strategy.
Ministers have said this government is different. Indeed, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, used to say that this is not a time for “ideology and orthodoxy”. But despite the rhetoric, a political choice has been made, representing precisely the wrong philosophical, economic and social way forward for the country. It will be many, many businesses, people and our economy that will pay the price.
