LONDON 12 Aug (ANA) - "I've said before that hard times were ahead, and today's figures confirm that hard times are here,"  UK chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.

 

"Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their jobs, and sadly in the coming months many more will.

 

"But while there are difficult choices to be made ahead, we will get through this, and I can assure people that nobody will be left without hope or opportunity."

 

Giving her reaction, Labour's shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said a downturn was "inevitable after lockdown" but added: "[Boris] Johnson's jobs crisis wasn't.

 

"We've already got the worst excess death rate in Europe - now we're on course for the worst recession too," she said. "That's a tragedy for our country and it's happening on the PM's watch."(ANA)

FA/ANA/12 August 2020--------