My fundamental values are service, family, work. Work gives you security, work gives your purpose.

So, when Covid threatened to take away that security and that purpose from millions and millions of people, I knew I had to act. At the time unemployment was predicted to reach catastrophic levels not seen for decades. I was not prepared to let the private sector workforce face this crisis alone. I was determined Covid would not take away from these people the dignity, security and purpose that their jobs gave them.

There was no textbook answer to this problem. This was an unprecedented situation.

But the team and I worked to come up with an answer. We decided that the Government would act as the insurer of last resort and pay 80 per cent of the wages of workers whose jobs would otherwise go. It was a big commitment: I knew that it would cost tens of billions of pounds and it was not without huge risk. But the alternative was mass unemployment with all the economic and psychological scarring that would bring. I was not prepared to let that happen.

RISHI SUNAK: Our economy has recovered more strongly than it would have done because businesses were able to bring their workforce back once lockdown had ended (2020 File)

RISHI SUNAK: Our economy has recovered more strongly than it would have done because businesses were able to bring their workforce back once lockdown had ended (2020 File)

RISHI SUNAK: My fundamental values are service, family, work. Work gives you security, work gives your purpose (Pictured at a Wetherspoons pub in Rotherham, March 7, 2024)

RISHI SUNAK: My fundamental values are service, family, work. Work gives you security, work gives your purpose (Pictured at a Wetherspoons pub in Rotherham, March 7, 2024)

Of all the things that I did as Chancellor, I am proudest of furlough: 10 million jobs saved, 10 million people left with the dignity, purpose and security that a job brings. Some people say we should have just increased benefits as the U.S. did. But that misses the point, hard-working people in this country don’t want a handout, they want a job. They want that purpose and security and whenever I meet someone who tells me that furlough saved their job, I am proud that we stepped up at the moment when they needed us.

Economically it was the right thing to do too. Our economy has recovered more strongly than it would have done because businesses were able to bring their workforce back once lockdown had ended. Most controversial has been the fact that the cost of furlough, as well as all the support we put in place for businesses and the NHS, was one of the reasons that taxes had to rise after the pandemic because continuing to borrow at the rate we had to, was not sustainable or Conservative. But I believe that trade-off was worth it to prevent mass unemployment.

Four years on to the day from introducing the furlough scheme that successfully saved thousands of businesses from going under and millions of jobs from being lost, we have well and truly turned a corner and the economy is showing strong signs of recovery.

Furlough protected jobs and thanks to our success in bringing stability to the economy, controlling inflation and gripping spending, we are well and truly on the path to sustainably lower taxes.

We started that journey in the autumn with a 2p cut to National Insurance worth £450 for the average worker on £35,400 a year. And the Chancellor cut taxes again in this month’s budget which now means that 27 million employees will get an average tax cut of around £900 a year.

We did this because I believe in the fundamental dignity of work. When people work hard, they should be rewarded, not taxed more. It’s not right that income from work is taxed twice, while all other income is only taxed once. This is why I have cut National Insurance, the second tax on work, by a third in the last six months. And it is why my long-term plan, ultimately, is to cut it to zero.

RISHI SUNAK: The Chancellor cut taxes again in this month's budget which now means that 27 million employees will get an average tax cut of around £900 a year (Pictured Nov 22, 2023)

RISHI SUNAK: The Chancellor cut taxes again in this month’s budget which now means that 27 million employees will get an average tax cut of around £900 a year (Pictured Nov 22, 2023)

RISHI SUNAK: We did this because I believe in the fundamental dignity of work. When people work hard, they should be rewarded, not taxed more (Pictured with Hunt, March 6, 2024)

RISHI SUNAK: We did this because I believe in the fundamental dignity of work. When people work hard, they should be rewarded, not taxed more (Pictured with Hunt, March 6, 2024)

We’ve made strong progress in just a few months to deliver that and there will be more we can do if we stick to the plan.

This would put more money in the pockets of hard-working people. It would speak to our belief that people who work hard should be rewarded.

The Government that I lead will always celebrate and reward hard work. People who work hard are the people who motivate me to get up and work hard for them everyday.

During Covid, we protected them and now my determination is to let them keep more of their own money, to ensure that they are only taxed once on the work that they do.

Post source: Daily mail

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