Nicola Sturgeon has called for an extension to the furlough scheme beyond October amid reports of a record decline in the UK economy.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy shrank by 20.4 per cent in April - the largest monthly contraction on record.
The ONS said the “historic” fall in the first full month of lockdown affected virtually all areas of activity.
The slump dwarfs previous crashes, this contraction is three times greater than the decline seen during the whole of the 2008 to 2009 economic downturn.
Responding to the figures the First Minister said the wage subsidy scheme - which has seen the treasury pay 80 per cent of wages for over 680,000 Scots workers- was “hugely welcome” but had to be extended now reports the Record.
On social media, Sturgeon demanded: “UK gov interventions - esp on wage subsidy - have been hugely welcome. But it’s now time to signal further extension like some other countries have.
“The alternative will be businesses either reopening before safe and risking virus surge, or laying workers off - neither acceptable.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he will taper back the furlough scheme in August with companies expected to pay a higher share of wages while the government continues to subsidies 60 per cent of salaries up to cap of £2500 a month.
The scheme is due to end in October but there have been calls for it to continue in sectors like hospitality and tourism which cannot bounce back immediately when the economy re-opens.
Sunak said: “The lifelines we’ve provided with our furlough scheme, grants, loans and tax cuts have protected thousands of businesses and millions of jobs - giving us the best chance of recovering quickly as the economy reopens.”
The chancellor added that life would get “a little bit more back to normal” once High Street shops could reopen in England on Monday.
There is still no date for non-essential retail shops to open in Scotland.
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Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said the GDP figures are deeply worrying, coming a day after the OECD suggested that the UK’s fall in GDP for this year will be worse than that of every other industrialised country.
She said: “As a constructive opposition, Labour has been pushing the Government to take the action that is needed now to prevent an even deeper recession. That means changing its one-size-fits-all approach to support packages, which risk additional waves of unemployment.”
The SNP has previously called on the UK government to continue its Job Retention Scheme and support for workers and the self-employed in the devolved national “for as long as is necessary”.
