Gordon Brown calls for Rishi Sunak to 'to do better' for the 2-3 million people who are not supported by furlough
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the Chancellor has "got to do better" for the two to three million people who are self-employed and have fallen through the cracks in furlough.
Speaking to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain about the issue, Mr Brown said: "I feel for people who have had no support yet they have no economic business to do at the moment… when you look at Black Lives Matter, when to look at what Marcus Rashford has done… I think people are speaking out and people want to see change and that the government will have to listen.”
On the Chancellor and his efforts to help people during the pandemic, he said: “I’ve always said that Rishi Sunak’s budget is inadequate and he's got to do better, and he’s got to do better in the next few weeks."
"You can’t take away £20 extra on Universal Credit that was given in March and take it away only a few weeks from now. Take six billion out of the econmony and destroy spending power for people, make people more improvised than they are at the moment," he added.
Calling for Boris Johnson to "bring people together", Mr Brown continued: "This is a responsibility of a Prime Minister. You’ve got to try and unite the country, bring people together and show them there is a basic fairness in the way we’re going to treat people in the future."
During the interview, Mr Brown also spoke about newly-elected President Joe Biden.
Talking about how Joe Biden can unify the country now, he said: "I know Joe Biden. What you see is what you get. He is open, he’s friendly. If Ronald Reagan was the great communicator, he is the great conciliator. He will spend time, hours, days, weeks bringing people together. Bringing Republican and Democrat together. Bringing the international community together as well."
Commenting on Biden and whether he will be a friend of Britain, he said: “I worked with Joe Biden. He is a friend of Britain, [he] has always been a friend of Britain. [He] wants to be a friend of Britain. I believe if the virus is over, he will visit Britain in the first six months of his Presidency and I think he will be here at the end of the year, if it’s possible, for the climate change conference in Glasgow.
"I think he’s telling Britain that he can’t sign a trade deal if there's any danger of a hard border between North and South Ireland and I think he’s already speeding up the negotiations, and I believe the government will have to change tack and they will have to withdraw these clauses in the internal market bill or at least not implement them… It is possible now that a European-British deal is even more likely because of Joe Biden," he said.
Mr Brown added: "He will make a huge difference to the strength of UK-US relations and also relations between us and the rest of the world. Because I see international cooperation on the virus, I see international cooperation now happening on an economic recovery and I see it happening on climate change as well as on NATO and security. I think we are in for a more cooperative world."
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