Three-quarters of a million jobs could be a risk due to the “combined failures” of the chancellor’s 2021 budget, an influential think tank has warned.
Experts from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said Rishi Sunak didn’t go far enough to prevent a “major surge” in unemployment, accusing him of putting 750,000 jobs at risk by not pledging higher levels of public spending.
Dr George Dibb, head of the IPPR Centre for Economic Justice, said the Budget was a missed opportunity to inject life into the pandemic-hit economy.
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“The chancellor had an opportunity to boost it like Biden, using bold public investment to drive a bounce-back from the Covid-19 crisis,” he said.
“What he actually set out is not enough to restore the UK economy to pre-pandemic levels and puts 750,000 jobs unnecessarily at risk.”