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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Corrie David

Vaughan Gething says furlough is needed if restrictions in Wales last more than a few weeks

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has said furlough is needed if Wales' new measures are needed for more than a few weeks.

Most businesses are understandably worried about the newly announced rules which will have an impact on their takings at one of the business times of the year.

Talking to GMB about these worries on Thursday, December 23rd, the Economy Minister said, "I'm not particularly happy about the measures that we have to take.

"I know we'll have a very real impact on people's lives and livelihoods."

He explained his concerns for those who are "fatigued" and "don't want there to be more restrictions", giving the £120m support package as their answer to businesses who will feel the impact.

Read more: Wales brings in tough new Covid restrictions

He said: "It's why we think that if these measures are needed for longer than an initial few weeks, we've been very clear that we think furlough would need to be reintroduced to prevent that catastrophic loss of jobs and businesses."

The economy minister explained how he believed that introducing these restrictions now, before "significant harm is caused" was the "right choice".

If the situation continued to deteriorate and furlough was needed, he said UK Government would need to help cover the cost.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast, he said: "If the harm increases then we have a really practical challenge because furlough is the best answer to prevent the sort of catastrophic loss of jobs and businesses.

"But furlough can only be introduced if the UK Government do that. It's about the money: furlough costs about £600 million a month in Wales. We don't have the resources for furlough and the other demands we have as well.

"But, also, we don't have access to the information that's required to deliver furlough.

"So, if the public health situation deteriorated further then we really do need coordinated action and we need the UK Treasury to step up to the plate and help to protect lives and livelihoods right across the UK."

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