Thousands falling through gaps in rescue deal, shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds warns

Anneliese Dodds stressed the need to do everything possible to keep people in jobs
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Thousands of people are still “falling through gaps” in the Government’s financial rescue package, the new shadow chancellor warned today.

Anneliese Dodds stressed the need to do everything possible to keep people in jobs, even if they are furloughed, rather than leaving them relying on benefits with all the costs to them as individuals and the wider economy.

In a media round the day after being appointed the first female shadow chancellor, the Oxford East MP, aged 42, gave broad backing to Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s huge economic rescue plan, which she described as “necessary” and not “extravagant”. But she argued that it still had flaws, particularly in the help offered to the self-employed and ensuring that firms can easily access loans to stop them going bust.

“There are quite a lot of people currently falling through the gaps so we really need to plug them,” she told BBC Breakfast. “Once people leave the labour market … it’s much harder to re-employ them.”

Economists say that the UK’s GDP could slump by 30 per cent in the second quarter, with the crisis costing a staggering £2.4 billion a day. Low earners, the young and women are being particularly affected, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Ms Dodds said a very large number of people were being forced into debt in the turmoil which was “shining a light” on inequalities in society. She signalled support for higher taxes on the rich in the crisis aftermath, saying “I have long advocated a more progressive tax system.”

She also said the labour market had to be re-examined, particularly the large number believed to be in “disguised self-employment”.

Ms Dodds, a former MEP and academic, was elected an MP in 2017. Her media round this morning was briefly interrupted by her daughter Isabella wandering into shot during a Sky News interview.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was continuing with shadow cabinet appointments today, with Lisa Nandy having been appointed shadow foreign secretary yesterday, Nick Thomas-Symonds shadow home secretary, Angela Rayner party chairwoman, Jonathan Ashworth shadow health secretary, and Rachel Reeves shadowing Michael Gove’s Cabinet Office post.

Richard Burgon was asked to step down from the shadow Cabinet.

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