More than 1 million jobs could be lost as UK faces worst recession on record, warns BoE

MORE than one million jobs could be lost as the UK is faces its worst recession on record, the Bank of England has warned.

It today claimed the economy was set to plummet by 14 per cent this year based on the lockdown being relaxed in June.

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The Bank of England warned Britain was bracing for the worst recession in 300 years

Now the Bank of England has predicted the coronavirus crisis will be felt in Britain’s finances for at least another year.

Making its first official outlook since the pandemic, it claimed GDP would see a “very sharp” fall and there would be a “substantial” rise in unemployment.

It predicts unemployment will jump from 4 per cent to 9 percent, meaning another 1.5 million could be out of a job.

In a statement, the Bank said: “The spread of Covid-19 and the measures to contain it are having a significant impact on the United Kingdom and many countries around the world.

“Activity has fallen sharply since the beginning of the year and unemployment has risen markedly.

“While the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme has significantly limited job losses, the flow of new Universal Credit benefit claims and early indicators of redundancies suggest that unemployment has risen sharply over the past couple of months.

“The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 9 per cent in Q2”.

The 14 per cent plunge to GDP estimated for 2020 would be the biggest recession for 300 years.

Previously the biggest annual financial collapse occurred in 1706.

Its analysis was based on the social distancing measures being gradually phased out between June and September, meaning things could be even worse in the event of a second wave.

Now tipping Britain for a recession, it revealed the economy shrank 2.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, before a massive 25 collapse in the three months to June.

Boris Johnson is preparing to ease lockdown measures on Monday.

The PM will address the nation on Sunday with a roadmap for how to tweak the current lockdown measures, some of which may come into effect the very next day.