Gordon Brown urges Rishi Sunak to come up with ambitious plan to help young and jobless

mirror.co.uk:

Gordon Brown has issued a plea to save jobs in the Budget as he urged Rishi Sunak not to “balance his books on the backs of the poor or the unemployed”.

The Labour heavyweight, who served as Chancellor for a decade, said Mr Sunak will have “failed in his duty to our country” if he does not come up with ambitious plans to help the young and the long-term unemployed.

Mr Sunak will unveil his blueprint to restore the battered economy on Wednesday, where he is expected to “level with people” about the devastating toll of the virus on the public finances.

He signalled today that he intends to extend lifeline schemes like furlough and self-employment support until at least June - but did not rule out the prospect of tax hikes.