BORIS Johnson was under fire from the SNP last night over only extending the furlough scheme when a second lockdown was announced for England – as he also faced a growing Tory backbench rebellion.
He was attacked by the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who said he had called for the job retention initiative to be extended 16 times before the last minute announcement at the weekend that it would continue through November.
The Prime Minister has faced outrage from across the devolved administrations and from cities in the North of England who believe the initiative – under which the government pays 80% of workers’ salaries – was only continued after the lockdown plans for the whole of England was unveiled.
Blackford said: “I have one very direct question for the Prime Minister: if requested by the devolved governments, particularly if they need to put in place additional lockdown measures, will the Prime Minister guarantee that the Treasury will make 80% furlough payments available when Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish workers and businesses need it over the coming months?
“It is a simple question, Prime Minister, and for once give us a straight answer to a question the people of Scotland want to know.
"No more ducking or diving, is it yes or no?”
READ MORE: Douglas Ross slammed for claiming SNP are ‘frothing at mouth’ over independence
Johnson replied: “The answer is yes because the furlough scheme is a UK-wide scheme and applies across the whole of the UK.”
The Prime Minister did not make commitments into the future should the devolved administrations take different decisions to the Westminster Government, adding £7.2 billion has been supplied from the UK Treasury to support the people of Scotland.
Making a statement to MPs on the lockdown measures for England, Johnson said there could be twice as many deaths over the winter in comparison to the first wave, adding that he believes Covid-19 could be defeated by spring 2021.
He told MPs that scientists are “bleak” in their predictions over the short-term but “unanimously optimistic about the medium and the long-term”, adding: “If the House asks me what is the exit strategy, what is the way out – let me be as clear as I can: the way out is to get the R down now to beat this autumn surge and to use this moment to exploit the medical and technical advances we’re making to keep it low.
READ MORE: Joanna Cherry: Boris Johnson may break his furlough promise, he has form
“I believe these technical developments taken together will enable us to defeat the virus by the spring, as humanity has defeated every other infectious disease and I’m not alone in this optimism.”
Sir Charles Walker, vice-chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbench MPs, who had previously predicted there will be up to 15 rebels on the Government’s benches during the vote tomorrow, said he would not be backing the Government.
He said: “I will not be supporting the Government legislation on Wednesday because as we drift further into an authoritarian, coercive state, the only legal mechanism left open to me is to vote against that legislation.”
Sir Graham Brady, the influential chair of the same Committee, said: “If these kinds of measures were being taken in any totalitarian country around the world, we would be denouncing it as a form of evil.”
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