Sunak’s plan to pinch pennies in a pandemic is unwise. But the bigger problem is the centralisation of his spending projects
Rishi Sunak has spent billions of pounds rescuing the economy during the year of Covid, but he needs to go further.
To start with, the chancellor, who set out his 2021-22 spending plans last week, needs to make permanent the £20-a-week increase in universal credit which is due to expire in the spring. Without that increase, about 6 million households, many of them the most vulnerable to financial shocks, will lose £1,000 a year of vital funds just as the unemployment rate is expected to hit its post-pandemic peak.
Continue reading…Sunak’s plan to pinch pennies in a pandemic is unwise. But the bigger problem is the centralisation of his spending projectsRishi Sunak has spent billions of pounds rescuing the economy during the year of Covid, but he needs to go further.To start with, the chancellor, who set out his 2021-22 spending plans last week, needs to make permanent the £20-a-week increase in universal credit which is due to expire in the spring. Without that increase, about 6 million households, many of them the most vulnerable to financial shocks, will lose £1,000 a year of vital funds just as the unemployment rate is expected to hit its post-pandemic peak. Continue reading…