Extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

That this House recognises the importance of retaining jobs in industries still affected by the ongoing covid-19 pandemic; further recognises that the cliff-edge October cut-off date of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is set to result in hundreds of thousands of avoidable redundancies; notes research from the Trussell Trust that the end of coronavirus job and income support is expected to spark a 61 per cent rise in food bank use this winter, plunging families across Scotland and the rest of the UK into poverty; and calls on the Government to act in line with other countries such as France, Ireland and Germany by extending the Job Retention Scheme into 2021.