Emergency Budget in all but name

The chancellor came to the despatch box bearing gifts. Rishi Sunak’s first Budget was a giveaway bonanza, the likes of which has not been seen since the UK was locked into austerity following the financial crash of 2008.

Mr Sunak, quite correctly, put the government’s response to coronavirus front and centre, pledging to deliver an array of fiscal measures to ward against the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

At £12 billion-plus, the package was a comprehensive economic bulwark against the virus’s growing threat.

An effective blank cheque for the NHS was designed to help alleviate growing fears among the public – most obviously demonstrated by the panic buying of recent days – about the country’s preparedness for an epidemic.

There was also comfort for the private sector, with measures aimed to keep the country working while up to a fifth of the entire UK labour force – a figure equivalent to the population of Scotland – is forced to self-isolate.

Financial protections for those in self-employment and SME businesses are also welcome, though all measures must be mirrored in Scotland to ensure a level playing field.

Delivered in a moment of global crisis, Mr Sunak was well pitched. It was an emergency Budget in all but name.

But there was little detail about where the money will come from to deliver the spending plans, and nothing about the UK’S future global trade relations. They may have been put off to another day, but those questions need answers.