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12.57pm GMT
And this is what Peter Dowd, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said on behalf of Labour about the need for employment support after the House of Commons UQ that saw a Treasury minister face fierce criticism from Tories about the fact that the government has not yet said what it will do to help people losing work. (See 11.48am.) Dowd said:
The government itself recognised today that its plan to protect jobs and wages will not feel sufficient to many, which is a stark admission of failure.
The government also said it would ‘expect’ businesses to use the loan guarantees given to support workers, but an expectation is simply not good enough.
12.49pm GMT
Sir Keir Starmer, the favourite in the Labour leadership contest, has put forward his own plans to protect people who will lose work because of coronavirus. He wants a national income guarantee scheme, featuring a Danish-style wage subsidy initiative, making government loans to business conditional on jobs being protected, trebling the value of statutory sick pay and increasing the value of benefits.
Today I’m calling for a national Income Guarantee Scheme to combat coronavirus.
Job protection linked to Government loans
A Danish-style wage subsidy initiative
Statutory Sick Pay increased and available to all
Social security strengthened https://t.co/nS8mmF8d0N
