Fightback
Chancellor pledges £330bn for businesses plus mortgage help for families Routine ops axed and beds cleared as NHS gears up for biggest fight in 71-year history
BRITAIN has declared war on deadly coronavirus with a package of measures to bolster the economy and fight the disease on the nation’s hospital wards.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a whopping £330billion of help for businesses as well as mortgage help for families.
And routine operations were axed and hospital beds cleared in Scotland as the NHS geared up for its biggest ever challenge.
BRITAIN’S economy has been put on to a war footing with business being offered a massive £330billion of guarantees and loans in the face of the coranavirus crisis.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he would “do all it takes” as he announced an “unprecedented package” – the equivalent of 15 per cent of UK’s economic activity for a whole year.
The money will be rolled out within a week to stop businesses going to the wall as people are advised to stay away from public spaces to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
In the face of the pandemic, the rookie Chancellor, who has only been in the job a month, faces the biggest economic crisis since WWII.
He and Prime Minister Boris Johnson used military language to drive home the scale of the challenge.
Johnson said the Government “must and will act with a profound sense of urgency” and would be like a “wartime government”.
The Prime Minister also warned that Covid-19 is so “dangerous” that without drastic action it will “overwhelm the NHS”, as he warned that more “extreme measures” may be needed to protect lives in the future.
The money the Chancellor announced at the now daily Whitehall press conference, would be worth £3.5billion to support businesses in devolved nations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
A statement in the Scottish Parliament today will provide details on the package of support for businesses in Scotland.
The Chancellor said he could go further if demand is greater. Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the Scottish Government would “pass every penny of consequential funding” from the Chancellor’s measures on to businesses in Scotland.
Sunak said he wanted to find a way of helping businesses meet the fixed cost of paying their staff without having to lay them off.
Ministers, he said, are working on new “forms of employment support to help protect people’s jobs and incomes through this period”.
He struck a more measured tone that of President Donald Trump who yesterday boasted he would write a cheque for $1000 to every American to keep heads above water and did nothing to allay the fears of workers facing redundancy.
John McDonnell, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said he was disappointed with Sunak’s coronavirus update.
He said: “People are being laid off today and losing their incomes. We are disappointed that this package does not address their concerns. “The Chancellor’s claim that new forms of employment support will be developed does not appreciate the urgency
and gravity of the situation. Workers and businesses need to know now that they will be supported, not in a few days’ time.”
McDonnell added: “The further announcements laid out by the Chancellor lack the certainty required amidst growing public anxiety and still do not go far enough in protecting workers, renters and those who are losing their jobs, or in fully supporting businesses at the scale necessary.”
Tim Roache, general secretary of union GMB, added: “Support for business is welcome but we need support for workers too because bills won’t go away while people self isolate.”
Robert Chote of the independent Office for Budget Responsibilty, said: “It is no abdication of
budget responsibility to be spending what you need to spend to deal with this.
“During World War II we ran deficits in excess of 20 per cent of GDP five years on the trot and that was the right thing to do at the
A BOOZE company has started making hand sanitiser in the battle against coronavirus. Leith Gin announced the move yesterday. It tweeted: “Does anyone know of a company who could contribute small plastic bottles with pump action tops?”