KEY POINTS

■ Outlining the government’s economic response to the Covid-19 outbreak, Mr Sunak unveiled an additional “fiscal loosening” of £18bn to support the economy this year, taking the total fiscal stimulus to £30bn.

■ The NHS will receive “any extra resources it needs”, whether that is “millions or billions of pounds” to deal with Covid-19 on top of £6bn of new funding to support the NHS in England over this Parliament.

■ Statutory sick pay (SSP) will be extended to all of those eligible and asked to self-isolate, even if they are not showing symptoms, and the government will meet the cost for businesses with fewer than 250 employees of providing SSP for 14 days.

■ A temporary coronavirus business interruption loan scheme will be introduced for banks to offer loans of up to £1.2m to support small and mediumsized businesses with their cashflow.

■ Business rates for businesses with a rateable value below £51,000 will be scrapped for a year in England to support small businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak.

■ The Chancellor said borrowing will increase from 2.1% of GDP in 2019/20 to 2.4% in 2020/21 and 2.8% in 2021/22 and borrowing will then fall to 2.5%, 2.4% and 2.2% in the following years.

■ The National Insurance threshold will increase from £8,632 to £9,500 and the National Living Wage will rise to £10.50 per hour by 2024 if economic conditions allow.

■ Fuel duty will be frozen for another year, £26bn will be invested in roads, and the government will abolish £2.4bn annual tax relief on red diesel in two years’ time, but agriculture, rail, domestic heating and fishing will be exempt.

■ Duties will be frozen on beer, cider, wine and spirits, and the government will provide £1m to support Scottish food and drink overseas and £10m to help distilleries “go green”.

■ The lifetime limit for entrepreneurs’ relief will be reduced from £10m to £1m, saving £6bn a year, and research and development investment will be increased to £22bn a year.

■ A “plastics packaging tax” charging manufacturers and importers £200 per tonne on packaging made of less than 30% of recycled plastic will be introduced in April 2022.

■ The Treasury will make £120m available immediately to repair defences damaged in the winter floods and the government will double investment to £5.2bn flood defences over six years.

■ Mr Sunak said more than £600bn would be spent investing in future prosperity over the next five years, taking net public investment to the highest levels in real terms since 1955.

■ The so-called tampon tax will be abolished, and VAT on digital books, newspapers, magazines and academic journals will be scrapped from December 1.

■ A £1bn building safety fund will be set up to ensure all unsafe combustible cladding is removed from buildings above 59ft (18m) tall.