THE furlough scheme is to be extended until the end of March, Rishi Sunak has told the Commons. 

The Chancellor confirmed that the UK government will, for the next five months, pay 80% of workers' wages, with employers paying national insurance and pension contributions.

It's another embarrassing u-turn for the Tory government, who for months have been refusing to countenance an extension to the scheme, despite requests from devolved governments and regional mayors.

It was initially supposed to end on October 31, but was pushed back until December 2 when Boris Johnson placed England back into lockdown. 

Alison Thewliss accused the Chancellor of having "dinghied" Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the north of England, and only acting when England was forced into lockdown.

The last minute nature of the announcement also meant that it came too late for some workers who have already been made redundant. 

Though the Treasury said employees who were "were employed and on the payroll on 23 September" and "who were made redundant or stopped working afterwards can be re-employed and claimed for."  

Addressing MPs, Sunak said: "The government's intention is for the new health restrictions to remain only until the start of December.

"But as we saw from the first lockdown, the economic effects are much longer lasting for businesses and areas than the duration of any restrictions.

"And as the Bank of England has said this morning, the economic recovery has slowed, and the economic risks are skewed to the downside.

"Given this significant uncertainty, a worsening economic backdrop, and the need to give people and businesses security through the winter. I believe it is right to go further.

"So we can announce today that the furlough scheme will not be extended for one month, it will be extended until the end of March.

"The government will continue to help pay people's wages, up to 80% of the normal amount, all employers will have to pay for hours not work is the cost of employer NICs and pension contributions.

"We'll review the policy in January to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employers to contribute more."

Sunak said the news should be reassuring for the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

He added: "The furlough scheme was designed and delivered by the government of the United Kingdom, on behalf of all the people of the United Kingdom, wherever they live.

"That has been the case since March, it is the case now and will remain the case until next March. It is a demonstration of the strength of the Union.

"The undeniable truth of this crisis is that we have only been able to provide this level of economic support, because we are a United Kingdom."

He said the upfront guarantee funding for the devolved administration would increase from £14billion to £16 billion.

"This Treasury has been, and will always be the Treasury for the whole of the United Kingdom," he said.

SNP shadow chancellor Alison Thewliss said she’d been calling for these changes for some time. 

“It feels like I've been arguing for exactly the same things from the UK government all this time and the reality is that Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the north of England have been dinghied by this chancellor until he was forced to lockdown in England.“

She added: “Now I'm glad the furlough and the self employment support scheme has been extended to March, but we should be clear that this kind of support is not unique to the UK and countries of all sizes have been supporting their people and many of them have done it more competently and more generously that the UK.”

READ MORE: Boris Johnson dodges furlough questions as Nicola Sturgeon demands answers

Labour pointed out that it was the fourth change to the Winter Economic Plan in just six weeks. 

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: "That delay in implementing those measures we know has cost livelihoods and lives. Now when the lockdown was announced the Prime Minister said furlough would be extended for a month, five hours before that scheme was due to end.

"Two days later, realising the self-employed had been forgotten there was a last-minute change to the self-employed scheme, and now further changes - the chancellor's fourth version of his winter economy plan in just six weeks. 

"The Chancellor can change his mind at the last minute but businesses can't. We need a chancellor who is in front of the problems we face not one who's always a step behind."

Responding to news of the extension, Green MSP Patrick Harvie tweeted: "Finally. Untold damage could have been prevented if this had come sooner. But if confirmed it will at least give people some much needed security."

The SNP MP Neil Gray asked why Sunak had waited so long. 

"Why on earth did he not do this when Scotland, Wales and NI requested it in September, when they needed it? Why only wait until England needed it?" he tweeted.

Reports suggested the Treasury had been caught short on Monday, when Johnson then vowed that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would have access to furlough payments beyond the scheduled end of England’s lockdown on December 2.

A UK Government source told The Times: “It has huge consequences, both for England and the Union.”