division_name: Protection of Jobs and Businesses
motion: <p class="indent" pid="f624.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House calls for the Government to abandon its one-size-fits-all withdrawal of the Coronavirus Job Retention and Self-Employment Income Support Schemes, and instead offer targeted income support to businesses and self-employed people in those sectors of the economy that have been hardest hit by the virus and are most in need of continuing assistance, and in those areas of the country which have been placed under local restrictions due to rising rates of infection.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f624.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;any deviation&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f624.2/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;from this Government&#8217;s proposed plan will cause damage to the United Kingdom economy.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f627.4/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;businesses across the UK are going to need further support to weather uncertainty over the coming months.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f627.4/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;an extension of the Job Retention Scheme to those sectors which are not just our most important but who have been hit hardest.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f628.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;it is time for the Government to bring forward a rescue package for those who have been left out.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f628.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;do little to prevent job losses&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f628.1/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;some form of an extension to the furlough scheme should remain on the table.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f628.1/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It&#8217;s too soon to pull business support away at the end of October.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f629.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;targeted extensions to the furlough scheme beyond October.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f630.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;welcomes the Government&#8217;s response to Covid-19 which has already protected the livelihoods of over 12 million people through the eight-month long Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme; acknowledges the support for hundreds of thousands of businesses up and down the country through unprecedented loan schemes, business grants and tax cuts; further welcomes the help to support, create, and protect jobs through measures such as the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, a temporary cut to VAT and stamp duty, increased incentives for apprenticeships, and the new Kickstart Scheme, as set out in the Government&#8217;s &#8216;Plan for Jobs&#8217; policy paper published in July; and further acknowledges that any deviation from this Government&#8217;s proposed plan will cause damage to the United Kingdom economy.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f632.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;standing shoulder to shoulder with small businesses to help them through this crisis.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f636.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I promised to do whatever it takes to support our economy through this crisis and that, if the situation changed, I would not hesitate to take further action.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2020-03-17">17 March</phrase> 2020; Vol. 673, c. 931.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f638.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f638.1/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;it&#8217;s too soon to pull business support away at the end of October&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f640.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;of the 3.7 million households across the UK granted a bill &#8216;payment holiday&#8217;, over 6 in 10 are already facing financial difficulties and will struggle to repay their debts when these arrangements end. For many, these payment holidays will cease on <phrase class="date" code="2020-10-31">31 October</phrase> 2020&#8212;the same date the government&#8217;s job retention schemes end, leaving many facing job losses and crippling financial strain.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f640.0/11" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the Scottish Government can borrow up to &#163;450m per annum for capital investment (a cap of &#163;3bn). On resource spending, they can borrow up to &#163;600m per annum (a cap of &#163;1.75bn), but only for &#8216;forecast error&#8217; and &#8216;cash management&#8217;. They cannot borrow to fund discretionary resource spending.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f655.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;prolonging the inevitable in a way that probably doesn&#8217;t help either the individual or the business.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f656.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;eventually you run out of other people&#8217;s money&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f665.2/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;You turn if you want to.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f667.6/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;right to say we have to look forward now. I don&#8217;t think we should be locking the economy down in a state that it pre-existed in.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f676.1/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Our main concern right now is that a number of those programmes are not fulfilling the promise that has been placed on&#160;them&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f676.1/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Labour has consistently called for an extension to the furlough in the most impacted industries&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f676.1/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the decision&#8230;not to provide sector-specific support to those most at risk could end up costing thousands of jobs.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2020-07-15">15 July</phrase> 2020; Vol. 678, c. 1509.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f676.1/14" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We need a targeted extension of the furlough scheme for the hardest-hit sectors and proper support in place to help those who are unemployed back into work.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="f678.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;should&#8230;help to limit any long-term economic &#8216;scarring&#8217;, by keeping workers attached to firms and helping otherwise viable firms stay in business.&#8221;</p>