Rishi Sunak says he’s extended the furlough scheme for another six months because ‘things might change’ in terms of easing England’s lockdown.

Yesterday the Chancellor announced furlough would continue until the end of September, more than three months after the June 21 date when all restrictions are currently due to end.

Speaking this morning, Mr Sunak said this was done to accommodate more ‘cautious views’ of when the lockdown could finally be over – raising the prospect that the Government may decide to push the June 21 date back.

Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain why it was necesarry to maintain the furlough scheme beyond June 21 , the Chancellor said: ‘We did that for a couple of reasons. I wanted people to have the reassurance that we were “going long”, beyond the end of the road map, because of course things might change.

‘We wanted to accommodate even the most cautious view of exiting from the restrictions – hopefully that won’t happen, we are making great progress, and thanks to everyone involved in the vaccination drive for making that possible.

‘But it is also important to remember that, just because the restrictions end, businesses will still need to take time to recover, things will take a bit of time to get back to the way they were, so I think it is important to provide that extra cushion.’

This is a breaking news story – more to follow

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