-£30 billion Covid-19 stimulus package to save UK jobs
The UK government on Wednesday committed £30 billion to save jobs and help the young find work in an economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. The budget pledges £1,000 for firms to take on trainees, and £2 billion to subsidize placements for 16 to 24-year-olds from lower-income families. The package includes £2 billion in grants for household insulation and for energy efficiency, and £1 billion for public sector buildings, including hospitals.
British health authorities announced on Monday that a further 48 people died of coronavirus across the UK over the past 24 hours, bringing the total up to 44,650.
The total number of cases in Britain is now 288,133, an increase of 512 in 24 hours.
As Scotland moved into phase three of easing the coronavirus lockdown, the number of new coronavirus cases hit their highest levels in three weeks.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I am asking everybody to stick to the law, not from a fear of enforcement, but because it is the right thing to do, it helps keep us and other people safe.”
“I encourage people to see wearing a face covering, for the foreseeable future, when you go to the shops to become as automatic as putting a seatbelt on is in a car already.”
Answering pre-selected questions from the British public, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested that rules regarding face masks could be tightened further, saying: “We need to be stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined places, transport and shops where they are meeting people they don’t normally meet.”
Under the furlough plan, the government is paying 80% of the wages for 9.3 million jobs at a cost of 25.5 billion pounds. However, according to research by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, the lockdown might take more than 6.5 million jobs out of the economy. Accommodation and food services are predicted to suffer the worst rate of cuts, with 75.1% of jobs lost, equivalent to around 1.3 million positions. Ranked second was 'other services' at 50.2%, ahead of 'wholesale, retail and repair of motor vehicles' at 47.6 % - or roughly two million jobs.