Newspaper headlines: ‘Job fears’ despite chancellor’s ‘rescue plan’

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By BBC News
Staff

image captionChancellor Rishi Sunak’s new Job Support Scheme features on the majority of Friday’s front pages. Set to replace furlough, the scheme will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time. It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases. The i newspaper reports workers will be able to get 77% of their wages for working one-third of their hours.

image captionThe Daily Mail highlights the chancellor’s call to the nation to learn to live with coronavirus “without fear”. Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Mr Sunak said people must “learn to live” with coronavirus. “Our lives can no longer be put on hold,” he said. The Mail praises Mr Sunak for saying “what so many have been thinking”.

image caption“Radical Rishi” is the Metro’s headline, after the chancellor’s announcement. The Job Support Scheme will begin on 1 November and last for six months. Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

image captionAnd the Daily Express dubs the chancellor “Houdini”, as it calls his proposals to bolster the economy a “£5bn escape plan”.

image captionElsewhere, reports on the chancellor’s announcement are less optimistic. The Financial Times leads with Mr Sunak’s warning that he “cannot save every business” and “cannot save every job”. The paper says the plan shifts the burden of supporting jobs affected by the pandemic from the taxpayer to the employer, and cites the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, which says many jobs will be lost in the coming months.

image captionThe Times says Britain is facing “a wave of redundancies” following the end of the furlough scheme. Mr Sunak has warned there will need to be a “more permanent adjustment” to the economy, and suggested that in the long term tax rises will be needed to balance the books, says the paper.

image captionThe Daily Telegraph reports the chancellor gave employers a “harsh reality check” while announcing the new scheme. According to the paper, unemployment stands at 4.1%, but the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated it could peak at 13.2% next year – meaning four million people would be out of work.

image captionThe Guardian also leads with warnings of rising unemployment, and says economists have estimated the cost of the chancellor’s package could come to about £5bn.

image captionMeanwhile, the Daily Mirror declares Mr Sunak’s package is “too little too late” and reports growing fears it is “not enough to protect millions of workers”. Unions and experts have criticised the scheme, according to the paper. It quotes Len McCluskey of the Unite union warning it “could see millions more facing poverty and joblessness in coming weeks”.

image captionFinally, the Daily Star claims supermarkets are experiencing “groundbog day” amid a resurgence of panic buying. Picturing a woman with a trolley laden with toilet roll, the paper says shops are rationing the product amid the ongoing pandemic.

The front pages all focus on the government’s new measures to support jobs when the furlough scheme ends next month, with mixed views.

The Express likens Chancellor Rishi Sunak to Harry Houdini, hailing

his “daring £5bn escape plan”, but the Mirror suggests millions could be out of work by Christmas – describing the package as “too little, too late”.

The Times says Britain is facing a wave of redundancies after Mr Sunak conceded he could not save every job, while the Telegraph’s headline highlights the chancellor’s warning that the UK needs to “face up to the hard choices”.

The Guardian reports that Mr Sunak refused to speculate on how high unemployment would go, as he admitted the economy was undergoing a “permanent adjustment” caused by the pandemic.

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The Sun is impressed by the chancellor’s “tenacious commitment” to saving jobs, but warns he is fighting a losing battle against economic reality.

The paper’s leader column describes Mr Sunak’s latest measures as “a sticking plaster on a bullet hole”, and suggests that his successive bailouts, though vital, “have kept Britain in denial that the worst hardships for generations lie immediately ahead of us”.

It argues that rising numbers of Covid-19 cases have spooked the nation out of all proportion to the actual danger – and urges the government to “wake up” if it is taking comfort from public support for restrictions.

The focus of ministers, it claims, “should not be on closing down, but on finding ways to open up”.

The Mail devotes a double-page spread to asking “Who Is In Charge?”, after noting that Mr Sunak “upstaged” Boris Johnson by striking a different tone to the prime minister’s “cautious” address to the nation on Tuesday.

It says Mr Sunak’s new slogan, “Live Without Fear”, sets out an approach that could not be in greater contrast to the “latest draconian crackdown” announced by Mr Johnson – who is described as being reduced to a “political piggy in the middle”, forced to mediate between two cabinet factions divided over the need for another lockdown.

‘Failing’ tracing system

Teething problems with the new contact-tracing app on the first day of its release in England and Wales are widely reported.

The Times says millions of people have smartphones that are too old to use the technology.

And the Mirror is furious – arguing the whole thing is “worthless” unless ministers sort out the testing regime, which it claims has got worse despite billions of pounds of investment.

It describes the tracing system as a test of government competence – “one they are failing”.

image copyrightPA Media

Research which suggests just 18% of people with coronavirus symptoms are self-isolating is highlighted by the Financial Times, which says the low rate has “heightened fears” over rising case numbers.

The King’s College London survey – of almost 32,000 people between March and August – also found only 11% of people who came into contact with an infected person went into quarantine.

The study found those least likely to follow the rules had dependent children, low incomes or worked in a key sector.

The shadow sports minister, Alison McGovern, has told the Mirror that “much-loved” football clubs outside the Premier League cannot be allowed to “get washed down the drain”, and the government must come up with a plan to protect them from the effects of the coronavirus crisis.

She warns that football clubs have been “especially” hard-hit by failures of the track and trace system, and accuses ministers of having had “months” to get things right.

The Mirror agrees that an “urgent” government plan is needed. It says money at the top of football should be redistributed down the leagues, and lottery funding should be directed to help clubs most in need.

Dirty laundry

Finally, the Guardian is one of several papers to pick up a story first reported by the Washington Post, which claims that Israel’s leader and his wife “have developed a reputation for lugging bags of dirty clothes on foreign trips, to be cleaned at another country’s expense”.

A member of staff at the White House guesthouse has told the Post that Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu “are the only visitors who bring actual suitcases of dirty laundry – and after multiple trips it became clear this was intentional”.

Mr Netanyahu’s office has denied the allegation.