Rishi Sunak’s plans for winter amount to creative destruction of Britain’s workforce | Carys Roberts

Don't let comparisons with Germany fool you. The policy encourages employers to keep a few staff and abandon the rest

Though the early days of the pandemic were terrible, they offered a fleeting glimmer of hope. Social scientists have debated for years whether it could be possible to transform the economies of the UK or US, where market forces have been unleashed on society, to more closely resemble the coordinated economies seen in Germany, France and Sweden, where workers are given a seat at the table and typically enjoy greater social protections. During the spring, with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) included in talks to design a previously unimaginable wage replacement scheme, the possibility of change looked tantalisingly close.

Indeed, in the hours preceding the plan from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, for the winter economy last week, many talked of a new German-style" scheme to replace the furlough programme. The leaders of the TUC and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) stood alongside Sunak as he prepared to make his speech, a show of unity that would have been surprising less than a year ago. The Kurzarbeit, the German policy of topping up pay for workers on reduced hours, which meant Germany was the only G7 country where employment did not fall following the financial crisis, was widely cited.

Related: Fears for jobs grow as employers count cost of Sunak's winter plan