WELFARE STATE
Half of adults paid by State with 27m furloughed, public sector or on welfare as Chancellor warns it’s ‘unsustainable’
HALF of all British adults are now being bankrolled by the State after 6.3million were furloughed and 1.8million applied for Universal Credit in the first month of the coronavirus crisis.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak's furlough scheme to pay 80 per cent of wages up to £2,500 a month cost an eyewatering £8billion in the first month - just shy of the NHS monthly budget of £11billion.
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It means a staggering 27million adults are now dependent on the state for at least part of their income.
Yesterday's figures showed another 250,000 out-of-work Brits have made claims for Jobseeker's Allowance as the economy is ravaged by the Covid-19 lockdown.
The jaw-dropping numbers come on top of 1.2million people who were already unemployed, 5.4million public sector workers and 12.6million people who receive a state pension.
It means more than 27 million people from an adult population of just over 52million - or around 53 per cent of the country - is now state-funded.
Last night, Mr Sunak admitted the cost to the taxpayer was "clearly not a sustainable situation".
Mr Sunak said: "To anyone who is anxious about this, I want to give them reassurance today that there will be no cliff edge to the furlough scheme.
"I'm working, as we speak, to figure out the most effective way to wind down the [furlough] scheme and to ease people back into work in a measured way.
"As some scenarios have suggested, we are potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the NHS, for example. Clearly that is not a sustainable situation."
Altogether, 800,000 companies made claims covering 6.3 million jobs under the furlough program, the Prime Minister's spokesman announced.
We are potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the NHS, for example. Clearly that is not a sustainable situation
Rishi Sunak
Yesterday's figures don't include five million self-employed Brits who can apply for a grant of up to £2,500 a month.
The devastating numbers lay bare the economic impact of the virus as Boris Johnson prepares to announce a "road map" out of Britain's lockdown.
Under the PM’s blueprint to end the nation’s virtual house arrest, the whole nation will see the tough restrictions begin to be eased at the same time, with the end of May targeted.
The lockdown was announced in March to curb the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 28,000 Brits.
Yesterday's daily death toll was the lowest rise for five weeks, with 288 more people dying in the UK.
But Mr Johnson is under pressure from some quarters to ease the shutdown, which has wreaked havoc on firms and employees.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader and former work and pensions secretary, told The Telegraph: "This proves that we have to now be looking to unlock the lockdown urgently because this is unsustainable for much longer."
Sir John Redwood, a former Cabinet minister, said: "In a short-term crisis the state needs to pay people who cannot work.
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"[But] furlough has to be a temporary measure. It can't conceivably become the new normal; we can't afford it."
Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, added: "We need to swiftly move away from such colossal state involvement in employment.
"If numbers like these persist, it will be a recipe for serious long term stagnation and decline".
Matt Hancock won't rule out making coronavirus vaccine compulsory if one emerges but doesn't think we'd need to
