Rishi Sunak pledges hope for all those who lose job with launch of new scheme

Nobody who loses their job in the Covid pandemic will be “left without hope”, Rishi Sunak has pledged as he prepares to address the Conservative Party Conference today.

The Chancellor said he would make sure “fresh opportunities” are given to everyone who is out of work, as he launches a £238 million scheme to help the medium-term unemployed.

He is expected to use his conference speech to set out how he intends to turn around the economy, and in particular how to solve the jobs crisis that could see a record number of people unemployed.

Treasury sources hinted yesterday that his speech will be light on new policies, but if he strays beyond his economic remit in his speech, Mr Sunak will risk accusations that he is trying to upstage the Prime Minister, who speaks on Tuesday.

It is understood that the Chancellor may end the fuel duty freeze and raise taxes for the self-employed.

Last night, Mr Sunak defended his Eat Out To Help Out scheme amid concerns that it may have added to the second wave of coronavirus.

He “definitely” had no regrets, and told the Sun: “We had an industry that I care deeply about because of employment. It’s over two million people.”

The Chancellor added that the 10pm curfew on pubs is “frustrating”.

“I don’t think it’s wrong for people to want to strive for normality and I don’t think it’s wrong for the Government to want that for people,” he said.

Boris Johnson has insisted he and the Chancellor are “as one” despite Mr Sunak diverging from the Prime Minister’s message on coronavirus by saying it is time to live “without fear”.

He said the Prime Minister was shouldering an “extraordinary burden” that would break most people.

Number 10 will expect Mr Sunak to toe the party line and in a public show of unity the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are expected to make a joint visit to a business today.

With the furlough scheme being wound up at the end of this month, Mr Sunak is under huge pressure to help up to four million people who could be out of work by next year.

Having already announced help for the long-term unemployed, Mr Sunak will promote Job Entry Targeted Support, or JETS, which is “dedicated to supporting those left jobless due to Covid-19”.

Mr Sunak said: “I’ve always been clear that we can’t save every job. I’ve spoken about the damaging effects of being out of work, but through JETS we will provide fresh opportunities to those that have sadly lost their jobs, to ensure that nobody is left without hope.”

The Treasury has already announced help for workers who are able to go back part time, as well as retraining for the long-term unemployed, but the JETS scheme is aimed at those who have been out of work for 13 weeks or more in England and Wales.

The Department for Work and Pensions will recruit an extra 13,500 work coaches, doubling the current number, to help jobseekers with interview coaching, CVs and specialist advice on getting jobs in growth sectors of the economy.

The scheme is expected to help up to 250,000 people, and will begin in the North East, North West, Southern England, Wales and South London before being rolled out across the rest of England later this month.

Mr Sunak is also expected to use his speech to promote the Government’s “Building Back Greener” policy, aimed at making Britain the Silicon Valley of clean electricity generation.

He will highlight the creation of 1,000 jobs by Octopus Energy at sites in London, Brighton, Warwick and Leicester. The firm has developed technology to ensure more homes are able to automatically access green energy when it is available, cutting the cost of bills.

Mr Sunak said: “More green jobs is not only good news for British job seekers - it’s a vote of confidence in the UK economy as it recovers, and pivotal to our collective efforts to build a greener, cleaner planet.”