THE Tories have finally moved to extend the furlough scheme but have been warned that it may still be too late.

In the Commons yesterday, Rishi Sunak told MPs that the UK Government will, for the next five months, pay 80% of workers’ wages, with employers paying just national insurance and pension contributions.

It was an embarrassing U-turn for the Tory Government who have been refusing to countenance an extension to the scheme despite repeated requests from devolved governments and regional mayors.

However, the Chancellor boasted that his last-minute package is proof of the strength of the Union.

The Scottish Government welcomed the new measures – which included an extra billion pounds for their coffers – but called it “long overdue”.

Furlough was initially supposed to end on October 31, being replaced by the far less generous Job Support Scheme.

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak set to extend UK Government furlough scheme until March

However, the end date was unexpectedly pushed back until December 2 last weekend, when Boris Johnson placed England back into lockdown.

Addressing MPs, Sunak said: “The Government’s intention is for the new health restrictions to remain only until the start of December.

“But as we saw from the first lockdown, the economic effects are much longer-lasting for businesses and areas than the duration of any restrictions.

“And as the Bank of England has said this morning, the economic recovery has slowed and the economic risks are skewed to the downside.

“Given this significant uncertainty, a worsening economic backdrop and the need to give people and businesses security through the winter, I believe it is right to go further.”

Sunak said the news should be reassuring for the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

He added: “The furlough scheme was designed and delivered by the Government of the United Kingdom, on behalf of all the people of the United Kingdom, wherever they live.

“That has been the case since March, it is the case now and will remain the case until next March. It is a demonstration of the strength of the Union.

“The undeniable truth of this crisis is that we have only been able to provide this level of economic support, because we are a United Kingdom.”

“This Treasury has been, and will always be the Treasury for the whole of the United Kingdom,” he added.

Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes welcomed the Chancellor’s “positive, but long-overdue, announcement” that the furlough will be extended.

She said: “We have repeatedly urged the UK Government to safeguard jobs by guaranteeing that this support will be available for as long as employers need it.

“Months of unnecessary confusion caused by the UK Government means that some employers have already taken the difficult decision to make people redundant because they expected the scheme to be withdrawn.”

She added: “I also welcome the extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme for people who are eligible. However, this scheme remains poorly targeted and offers no relief for people who have become self-employed more recently.

“I call upon the Chancellor to review the entry criteria, as he now has with the Job Retention Scheme, to open up this support to self-employed people who have so far been excluded.”

Labour pointed out that it was the fourth change to the Winter Economic Plan in just six weeks.

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak's furlough extension: Who will benefit most from the scheme?

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: “That delay in implementing those measures we know has cost livelihoods and lives. Now when the lockdown was announced the Prime Minister said furlough would be extended for a month, five hours before that scheme was due to end.

“Two days later, realising the self-employed had been forgotten there was a last-minute change to the self-employed scheme, and now further changes – the Chancellor’s fourth version of his Winter Economy Plan in just six weeks.

“The Chancellor can change his mind at the last minute but businesses can’t.

“We need a chancellor who is in front of the problems we face not one who’s always a step behind.”

Paul Johnson from the IFS thin tank said he was “taken aback” by the statement.

“Wasteful and badly targeted for self-employed. No effort at targeting sectors/viable jobs for employees. Big contrast to position just days ago,” he tweeted.