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Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has warned that Rishi Sunak’s new £500m package of grants for vulnerable households shows the chancellor knows there is a problem with the rising cost of living.
“It shows me there is a realisation there is a problem – but the scale isn’t understood,” Sir Iain reportedly said.
Labour has branded the package, designed to help up to 4 million people, “a sticking plaster”.
Meawnhile, with the government’s furlough scheme ending, a minister has admitted it is “impossible” to know how many people will lose their jobs this winter.
Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, added: “Obviously there will be a variety of outcomes... People's jobs will be created just as some have very sadly been lost, that is part of the process of ending this crisis and going back to normal.”
Estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that almost a million workers are expected to be still receiving support at the end of the month, while economists have warned unemployment is likely to rise.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned this week that workers in London were likely to be hit hardest by the end of the programme, with employees in the capital in the “most precarious position”.
