Rishi Sunak rejects calls by businesses for furlough extension | UK job furlough scheme

Rishi Sunak has rejected business demands for an extension of the furlough scheme and business rates relief, despite a four-week delay in the easing of Covid-19 restrictions previously set for 21 June.

Business leaders and Labour said failure to maintain emergency economic support measures in line with public health restrictions would push struggling businesses into bankruptcy and risk thousands of jobs.

It came as Boris Johnson announced the government roadmap out of lockdown in England would be delayed by up to four weeks, amid a rapid rise in cases of the Delta Covid variant first detected in India.

With only a week before all pandemic restrictions were due to be removed, sources close to the chancellor said he believed sufficient economic support measures were already in place to cope with a delay. Two sources said Sunak had intentionally “gone long” at the March budget by announcing furlough would last until September for exactly this reason.