LABOUR has called for an emergency budget next month as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rachel Reeves MP, shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has described the country's economic situation as "incredibly worrying" and said Rishi Sunak must announce a "back to work budget" in July.
Ms Reeves, speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, said: "The economic picture is incredibly worrying… the figures both on the debt and the deficit but also the jobs figures and the falling GDP in March, should give us all huge cause for concern and we do need from the Chancellor a budget for jobs, a back to work budget in July this year, to quickly get on top of this.”
The MP also accused UK Government Education Secretary Gavin Williamson of being "asleep at the wheel" around reopening of schools, saying that they could have opened up sooner if "the government had thrown everything into it".
She said: “I would like to see more children return to school safely but the truth is the government has failed in the commitments that they made to parents and to the country, which was to return all primary school children to school safely before the summer holidays.
"Frankly, I don't know what the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has been doing for the last three months because he should have been using this period of lockdown to prepare schools to ensure that the space is available… the government should have been working with libraries, with community centres, with leisure centres to open them potentially as school settings or to put in temporary buildings. The government didn’t do that, they were asleep at the wheel.
"Gavin Williamson was set a test; he has failed it miserably and now the government are trying to blame other people for their failure to get school open. I think schools could have opened safely for all children before the summer holidays if the government had thrown everything into it.”
Rishi Sunak has been reportedly planning to set out his spending plans in a budget next month, with extra spending on infrastructure and a government bailout for struggling firms if they can contribute to the country's economic recovery over the next decade.
Mr Sunak has previously warned that as many as 2 million jobs could be lost in the hospitality sector should pubs and restaurants not be able to reopen soon.
It is expected that the two metre social distancing rule currently in place is to be lifted in England this week with suggestions by several Government minsters that it would be reduced to one metre.
The move would be welcomed by hospitality firms, with many senior figures previously saying their businesses would not be able to survive under the current regulations.
Beer gardens and outdoor dining areas may be allowed to reopen in England, however Nicola Sturgeon has currently ruled out the prospect for Scottish companies.
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