MICHAEL Gove had insisted the UK government would remain “open” to the possibility of extending the leave scheme beyond the current expiration date in September.
Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants the job retention initiative to continue in the fall and will take advantage of a four-country meeting with Boris Johnson on Thursday (June 3) to plead her case.
Mr Gove has now indicated that the scheme, which provides for the taxpayer to pay money on workers’ wages, could be extended.
Speaking ahead of the four-nation summit on the fight against Covid, Mr Gove said the initiative had been a “huge success” which was only possible “thanks to the broad shoulders of the British Treasury”.
The UK government minister insisted that higher spending in response to the coronavirus pandemic would continue, as the country as a whole seeks to ‘build back better’.
“The additional funding will continue”
The Scottish government has raised concerns about a possible return to Tory austerity in Westminster, but Mr Gove told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland show: ‘We will spend more.
“We will spend more on the NHS, we will spend more on education, we will spend more on criminal justice, because in all of these areas it is absolutely vital that we build back better.
“The additional funding for everyone will continue, and it’s important that we all learn from each other about how this money should be spent.”
His comments precede a virtual coronavirus recovery summit involving Mr Johnson and leaders of decentralized governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
The revamped meeting was due to take place last week, but was postponed after the Wales and Scottish Prime Ministers withdrew as they wanted it to be a “meaningful discussion with substantial results”.
Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford subsequently wrote to the Prime Minister asking for more substance and clarity on the summit.
“A return to austerity before the pandemic would be disastrous”
Ahead of the summit, the Scottish Prime Minister called on the UK government to extend the leave again – and to ensure that pre-existing inequalities are not further exacerbated by the crisis.
Ms Sturgeon said: ‘We have done all we can with the limited powers at our disposal to tackle inequality and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on people’s livelihoods, but we cannot allow this to happen. erodes as we enter the next phase of life with the virus.
“A return to pre-pandemic austerity would be disastrous for jobs, for public services and for individuals and families across Scotland.
“While the UK government holds the main financial levers to help us recover, I will call on them to commit to sustaining public spending during the recovery period and to extending the leave scheme for as long as it is. necessary to protect businesses and people who have been forced to stop working to protect others, and I will emphasize that they are managed sensitively in a way that promotes a longer-term recovery. ”
Mr Johnson called for the meeting following the Welsh and Scottish parliamentary elections last month as he called for a united approach “to overcome the significant challenges of the Covid recovery”.
The virtual summit is expected to bring together the Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers of the four nations as well as Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Mr Gove and the UK Government’s Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-03 13:59:04
