U.K.’s Sunak Gets Twitter Bashing as He Defends Coronavirus Aid
U.K.’s Sunak Gets Twitter Bashing as He Defends Coronavirus Aid
(Bloomberg) --
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak faced a barrage of complaints on Twitter as he took to the social media network to explain the government’s efforts to help businesses and jobs weather the coronavirus outbreak.
In a question-and-answer session on Friday under the hashtag #AskRishi, Sunak defended the government’s plan -- to pay workers furloughed by their companies 80% of their wages -- from criticism that it excludes too many people.
“This is going to be a very difficult time for many of us, and I can’t pretend that we’re going to be able to save every single business or protect every single job,” Sunak said in a video. “But the scheme that we designed was specifically there to try and keep as many people attached to their job and their employer as possible.”
Sunak has pledged more than 60 billion pounds ($74 billion) of direct aid and offered 330 billion pounds of loan guarantees to help workers and business weather the coronavirus pandemic. While his program has received praised from across the political spectrum, many Twitter users -- particularly those who changed employer in March -- complained they had been left out.
People who started new jobs after Feb. 28 can’t get the government aid through their new employers and so have to rely on their former bosses -- if they can persuade them to take them back on their books. Those not employed in February may not even have that option.
“Left Behind”
“Furlough scheme has not work out (sic) for thousands,” user Stuart Williams wrote. “Having to go back to previous employers is not retaining employers. It’s a paper exercise. Move the date, retain people in the jobs that will be needed to kick start every business when lockdown ends -- Please.”
Another, Amy-Claire Hunt, said “there are thousands of us left behind” who “just happened to pick the worst time” to change jobs.
A third, Craig Meredith, wrote: “Why should we be left behind because we changed/got jobs after your 28/2 date & b4 your announcement?”
“We need to have some way of checking that people were actually employed by a company at that time otherwise the whole system is open to enormous fraud,” Sunak responded. “We need to be able to process these claims and then verify them against something and the only thing we have to do that is the payroll data.”
Other Twitter users expressed concern about the fate of people who run small businesses and are paid largely in dividends.
Asked whether football clubs were taking advantage of the program by furloughing lower-paid staff while keeping their football stars on high wages, Sunak called on players to act “responsibly” because “we are all in this together.”
Sunak also pledged the National Health Service would get “everything” the government had promised in its election manifesto. He also said the Universal Credit welfare system was now “considerably more responsive and generous” than before the outbreak.
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