Govt Wasn't Pressured Into Handouts: Carrie Lam

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Friday denied that the government had caved in to pressure in announcing new cash handouts of up to HK$4,000, saying the ‘Sharing and Caring Scheme’ is no policy u-turn.

Speaking after Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced that all residents left out of the relief measures in his budget would get the full handout while others who got less than HK$4,000 in benefits can apply for top-up payments, Lam said she’s “pretty confident that this programme will now meet the wishes of the Hong Kong people.”

She said all along, Chan had been “fully aware” that “certain sections in the community” may not benefit from his budget sweeteners, and had explicitly said in his budget speech that the Community Care Fund would be invited to devise a scheme to share Hong Kong’s record surplus with the community.

“In the course of the last two, three weeks, we have listened to the community and engaged extensively with the Legislative Council members and other community groups”, Lam said.

She said the general view was that people wanted this “Care and Share Scheme to be designed in a very comprehensive way with a view to meet the wishes of hopefully everyone in society, but short of doing a free give out to everybody in Hong Kong.”

Lam was speaking at ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail to Guangzhou.