According to some reports Rishi Sunak is preparing to wind down coronavirus furlough scheme from July.

There was only ever one rationale for the scheme: to ensure the businesses concerned and the people furloughed stayed together to ease the businesses restarting. So unless the lockdown is released enough for that to happen, all the money concerned has been thrown away for no purpose. And then the whole population must feel confident enough to use the services these businesses provide. And they must, of course, have enough money to do so.

As we have said before, reopening the economy is no simple matter.   But to end or reduce the furlough scheme without very precise targeting will have wasted the whole idea - which, let us recall, most of the "lefties" on these thread welcomed, and did the "righties". (It was on the previous incarnation, I think. Or possibly the one before, I lose track.)

There has been some essentially pointless speculation of what would have happened if Labour had won the election. One thing I am certain of is that had Labour won, and pursued exactly the financial policy Rishi Sunak did, we would hear that "Labour came in, wrecked the budget, forced businesses to the wall and created mass unemployment" for the next thirty years or so...