Great to be in the House of Commons chamber this afternoon to listen to the Chancellor deliver his plan for jobs. This will be worth as much as £30 billion, which is on top of the £160 billion plan already in place to protect businesses and jobs during the pandemic. I know that this will help constituents in the Meon Valley keep their jobs or find new ones if necessary, as well as helping our pubs, restaurants and other small businesses overcome the challenges posed by this disease. I am looking forward to making the most of the Eat Out to Help Out and hope that many pubs and restaurants sign up to this policy so people can visit some of our fantastic places to eat and socialise.
Amongst other things, this fantastic package of measures will:
Help protect jobs
- A £1,000 per employee bonus for employers who keep on their furloughed workers after October.
- A 75% cut in VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors.
- Temporarily scrapping stamp duty up to £500,000 to boost the housing market, saving the average homebuyer £4,500.
- The new Eat Out to Help Out will support restaurants, pubs and cafes by giving us all a 50% discount of up to £10 per person to eat out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Help young people join the workplace
- A £2 billion new Kickstart Scheme, creating hundreds of thousands of new fully subsidised jobs for 16 – 24-year olds.
- Paying businesses £1,000 to take on trainees, with triple the number of places there are now.
- Providing £2,000 to employers for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25.
- Doubling the number of work coaches and providing £32 million of funding for career advisers.
Create new jobs in the green economy
- £2 billion for a new Green Homes Grant to help homeowners make their homes more energy-efficient, tackling climate change and reducing household bills.
- A pilot to decarbonise social housing, reducing energy bills by an average of £200 for some of the poorest households in society.
- Providing £1 billion to improve the energy efficiency of public sector buildings.
