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Yesterday in the House of Commons Boris Johnson said he shared Ian Blackford’s desire to get “parity of support” for the self-employed with the employed in the coronavirus rescue package. The reference to parity was taken as implying that they could get 80% of earnings up to £2,500 a month, but because Johnson only talked of his “desire” to achieve this, no one could be sure. Today this is what Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, did announce. That was more generous than some people expected, although of course there is a catch.

Play Video 2:04 Coronavirus: Rishi Sunak promises up to £2,500 a month for self-employed - video

Here are the main points.

Sunak said that the 95% of the self-employed would be able to get 80% of their average monthly profits over the last three years up to £2,500 a month under his scheme to help those who have lost work because of coronavirus. The people who are not covered are the self-employed who make more than £50,000 a year. Sunak said people in this group had average incomes of £200,000. He claimed his scheme was very generous by international standards. He ended his opening statement saying:

By any international standards, the package we’ve outlined today represents one of the most generous and comprehensive ways to support those in self-employment anywhere in the world. I would conclude by saying this: to all those who are self-employed, who are rightly anxious and worried about the next few months, you haven’t been forgotten, we will not leave you behind and we are all in this together.

But the self-employed will have to wait until June until they get their money. And there is no help available for those who have only just become self-employed.

Labour reaction to the scheme has been mixed. This is from Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester

Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) Once again, the Chancellor has shown his ability to listen. This move is welcome & will help millions. But initial feedback says June will be a stretch. Case for an up-front blanket £1k payment in April to tide people over? Just an idea. Could be deducted from the final figure.

The Labour MP David Lammy is much more critical.

David Lammy (@DavidLammy) Leaving the 5 million self-employed Brits without any support until June is a slap in the face. Many will be bankrupt by then. And why is there an eligibility cap for the self-employed but not the employed? This is not what I call fair.

Sunak hinted that he could ask the self-employed to pay more in national insurance once the crisis is over. In his opening statement he said:

I must be honest and point out that in devising this scheme in response to many calls for support, it is now much harder to justify the inconsistent contributions between people of different employment statuses. If we all want to benefit equally from state support, we must all pay in equally in future.

Asked to clarify what he meant in the Q&A, he said:

Rather than be too specific right now about future tax policy, it’s just an observation that there’s currently an inconsistency in contributions between self-employed and employed. And the actions taken today, which is very significant tens of billions of pounds of support for those who are self-employed treating them the same way as those who are employed, it does throw into light the question of consistency and whether that is fair to everybody going forward.