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Fair to furlough? Britain's massive job-saving plan prompts pushback

While more than half of UK companies are expected to apply for government grants to pay furloughed employees, critics say they expect too much of the cash to go where it's not needed.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak arrives at Downing Street as the government is expected to publish an emergency coronavirus powers Bill, in London, Thursday March 19, 2020 | AP/PTI
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UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to counter the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which could see the economy shrink by more than a third in the second quarter.

Tom Metcalf, David Hellier, and Deirdre Hipwell | Bloomberg
Britain’s bailout battle is heating up before the first penny has even been paid in an unprecedented effort to save jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
 
While more than half of UK companies are expected to apply for government grants to pay furloughed employees, critics say they expect too much of the cash to go where it’s not needed.
 
“In my opinion, all allowances, handouts and incentives don’t go to the most needy but to the people or organizations most adept at claiming them,” Hargreaves Lansdown Plc co-founder Peter Hargreaves said in an email. “Letting people have the choice to work