Business leaders: extend furlough to avoid millions of job losses

Rishi Sunak urged to offer ‘second wave’ of financial support to avoid mass unemployment and bankruptcies

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

The chancellor Rishi Sunak is under intense pressure this weekend to offer a massive “second wave” of financial support to businesses within weeks amid growing fears of a catastrophic early summer of spiralling unemployment and company bankruptcies.

With the government’s £40bn job-retention scheme running until the end of June, business groups and the Labour party are demanding that Sunak extend the scheme as a matter of urgency to give an essential lifeline to the UK economy.

Continue reading…