Coronavirus lockdown: The longterm effect on the UK economy - BBC Newsnight

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to announce plans to restart the economy and ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions. Subscribe to our channel here

But how do you reboot an economy, when the government is paying the wages of more than six million citizens?

The government is now paying the wages for nearly a quarter of UK jobs under its furlough programme.

The scheme is designed to help people put on leave due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There have been more than 6.3 million claims - equal to 23% of the employed workforce.

So what happens when lockdown restrictions end and the furlough scheme comes to and end? What does unemployment look like for the rest of 2020 and will the government still continue its election promise of levelling up?

What is furlough?

- Furlough supports firms hit by coronavirus by temporarily helping to pay the wages of people who can't do their jobs.

- It allows employees to stay on the payroll, even though they aren't working.

- The company can top up this pay if it chooses and must let employees know they have been furloughed.

- The scheme - backdated to 1 March 2020 - opened to applications on 20 April and will run until at least the end of June 2020.

Business Editor Helen Thomas reports.

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