UK PM Johnson to outline new measures to retrain unemployed – FT

UK Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson is will put forward another measure combat the economic fears of coronavirus (COVID-19) resurgence and no-deal Brexit. In doing so, the Tory leader will push for adult education by retraining the unemployed for jobs in growth sectors, per the Financial Times (FT).

Key quotes

The PM is to promise a ‘lifetime skills guarantee’ open to adults in England who do not have an A-level or equivalent qualification, offering them a free college place on an approved list of vocational courses.

Details also suggest that higher education loans would also be made more flexible to allow adults to space out the study across their lifetimes, allowing them to retrain for new careers as the economy changed.

Furthermore, the new offer of free college places will be paid for from the £2.5bn National Skills Fund, which was announced in the Budget in March before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. An additional £1.5bn of capital investment was allocated to upgrade further-education colleges.

FX implications

Although GBP/USD trimmed some of the Monday’s strong gains by the Asian session on Tuesday, the news can add reasons for the Pound buyers. However, a lack of British traders during this time of the day restricted the quote’s moves around 1.2840 by the time of the press.