Government has left “whole industries exposed” during Covid, says Starmer

Keir Starmer has accused the government of “leaving thousands of jobs and even whole industries exposed”, after new research by the party suggests that the Chancellor missed an opportunity to save jobs in his summer economic update.

In a speech at an autonomous robotic delivery company in Milton Keynes today, the Labour leader slammed the government for insisting on a “one-size-fits-all” approach to support in the coronavirus pandemic.

Labour’s analysis of industry data has indicated that, in the week after Rishi Sunak’s summer statement in early July, 16,000 more manufacturers planned redundancies than when it was delivered.

Data published by Make UK found that 53% of manufacturers reported redundancy plans in the period after the statement, representing an increase from 41.2% at the end of last month.

In the speech in Milton Keynes today, the Labour leader said: “The threat to manufacturing jobs is another example of the government poorly targeting support, leaving thousands of jobs and even whole industries exposed.

“We want the government to get this right. We are a week out from the winding down of the furlough scheme –the government needs to urgently abandon its one-size-fits-all approach and target support where it most needed.

“The UK is home to world-leading, innovative companies which will be crucial to helping our economy recover. But hard-hit sectors like manufacturing need more targeted support to stem the tide of job losses and protect people’s livelihoods.”

The party has repeatedly urged the government to change course on its plans to wind down the furlough scheme from August. Anneliese Dodds warned last week that not doing so would result in an “extra wave of unemployment”.

Labour used the interdepartmental business register (IDBR) for its analysis. IDBR is a comprehensive list of UK businesses and is used by government for statistical purposes. It then combined this with data from Make UK.

Make UK represents business in engineering, manufacturing and technology-based sectors. It has previously said that the furlough scheme must be extended for “key strategic sectors” if “we are to mitigate the worst impact of potential job losses”.