Welby likens crisis to nuclear conflict

THE ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury has likened the coronavirus pandemic to a nuclear explosion, the fallout of which will last for years and shape the nation’s future in unforeseeable ways.

Speaking at Westminster, the Most Rev Justin Welby, inset, welcomed the “war budget commitment” made by the Government to shore up the struggling economy. But the top Anglican cleric stressed the need for the “enormous and unprecedented” financial support to benefit the entire country and not just the big cities.

Many towns and smaller communities had been in decline for years, and the Covid-19 outbreak “may well be the last straw for some”, he warned. Mr Welby called for the funding to be guided by a “moral and ethical” vision “on a scale with the spending” which “recovers ‘us’ and ‘we’ from the era of ‘I’ and ‘me’”.

His comments in a House of Lords debate, came after the Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out a £350bn rescue package to help businesses survive the crisis.

Mr Welby told peers: “The crisis through which we are passing will change this nation in deep and unpredictable ways. Like a nuclear explosion, the initial impact is colossal but the fallout last for years and will shape us in ways we can’t even begin to predict at the moment.” He added: “We will overcome the virus. Small groups all over the country are showing fresh signs of community spirit and collaboration. It is from those small groups through to the large scale government measures that things will change. But during a crisis, keeping the long term direction is as important as tackling the short term problem.

“The enormous package package of short-terms measures is by its very size sufficient to raise hope and for that it is welcome. Fifteen per cent of GDP is a war budget commitment.”