WATCH: Labour urges government to “get a grip” on economic recovery

Bridget Phillipson has warned that the UK will see a “really severe impact” to the economy if the government fails to “get a grip” on the recovery, and urged the government to bring forward a ‘back-to-work’ Budget in July.

In a Sky News interview this morning, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury expressed concern that the government’s economic response to the health crisis has been too slow.

The Labour MP said: “The slowness in our public health response must now not be matched with slowness where it comes to our response on the economy.”

She added: “Unless we get a grip on this and unless the government brings forward a much bigger set of measures in July through a back-to-work Budget, we will see a really severe impact on the economy beyond that which has already been seen.”

Labour last week called on the government to introduce measures to protect jobs in a back-to-work Budget, and warned that the UK could see “mass unemployment on a scale not seen for decades” when the furlough scheme is withdrawn.

Data recently released by the Office for National Statistics showed that the unemployment rate has remained steady throughout the crisis at 3.9%, but economists have warned that this will rise when the furlough scheme ends.

The furlough scheme is due to end in October. The figures also revealed that there has been a sharp increase in the benefit claimant rate during the lockdown period, and that job vacancies fell to their lowest level on record in April.