UK business demands rethink on furlough scheme wind down

Leading lobby group warns Rishi Sunak's summer statement plans risk mass unemployment

Business leaders have warned Rishi Sunak that his multibillion-pound summer statement plan to save jobs is failing to prevent an unemployment crisis from taking hold.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is demanding an urgent rethink from the chancellor, as the government starts scaling back its Covid-19 economic response, and warned that fewer than half of firms were planning to take up jobs support measures announced by Sunak last month.