U.K.s Sunak Cancels Planned Fall Budget as Coronavirus Worsens

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak canceled his planned fall budget and prepared to set out a fresh round of job-support measures as the coronavirus pandemic worsens.

Sunak will announce his blueprint to protect jobs from the economic fallout from Covid-19 in a statement to the U.K. Parliament on Thursday, days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed new restrictions on the British public to bring the resurgent virus outbreak under control.

The moves are a sign the government is gearing up for months of economic disruption. The chancellor is facing intense demands to extend his furlough wage support program or set out measures to replace it as the pandemic drags on.

As our response to coronavirus adapts, tomorrow afternoon I will update the House of Commons on our plans to continue protecting jobs through the winter. pic.twitter.com/eP6aqcocxd

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) September 23, 2020

“As our response to coronavirus adapts, tomorrow afternoon I will update the House of Commons on our plans to continue protecting jobs through the winter,” Sunak said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Ministers say the chancellor is drawing up plans for a “targeted” program of support to replace the policies that paid 80% of workers wages and supported more than 10 million jobs during the first peak of the pandemic.

Read More: Kurzarbeit, or Saving Jobs the German Way: QuickTake

The furlough program is due to close at the end of October, and Sunak has said he wont extend it beyond that date. But he is weighing up other forms of support, including a German-style program to top up wages of workers who return to their jobs part-time.

The cost of the U.K.s wage subsidies for workers and the self-employed has surpassed 50 billion pounds ($64 billion), according to figures published on Tuesday.