Hello, youre watching afternoon live. The new chancellor delivers his first budget with measures to control the corona riots outbreak at its heart. Coronavirus. Control the corona riots outbreak at its heart. Coronavirus. The british people may be worried but they are not daunted. We will protect our people and country. We will rise to this challenge. He abolishes Business Rates for many firms in england, extended sick pay and boosts nhs funding by the labour leader says it is not enough. Todays budget was billed as a turning point, a chance to deliver,
in particular on the promises made to working class communities during general election. But it does not come close. All this just hours after the bank of england announced an emergency cut in Interest Rates to shore up the economy. And i am live in westminster with all the reaction to a budget dominated by the coronavirus outbreak. The number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the uk rises by 83 to 456. That is the biggest daily increase yet. And coronavirus hits the heart of government as the Health Minister, dean norris, reveals she has tested positive and is self isolating. Harvey weinstein arrives in court in new york for sentencing for Sexual Assault and rape. This is afternoon live. I am live at the Trinity Walk Shopping Centre in wakefield. The chancellor, rishi sunak, has unveiled a £30 billion package to help the economy get through the coronavirus outbreak. In the last hour, the number of uk coronavirus uk is cases rose to 456, up 83 injust the coronavirus uk is cases rose to 456, up 83 in just the last 84 hours. Delivering his first budget, rishi sunak said he would abolish Business Rates for many firms, extensive pay and boost nhs funding. The labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn said ten yea rs the labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn said ten years of cuts would make it harder to respond to coronavirus. All this on the day that the bank of england cut the base Interest Rate toa england cut the base Interest Rate to a quarter of i . Lets look in more detail at the key measures in the budget. To combat the hardship caused by the coronavirus outbreak,
the chancellor announced a £5 million Emergency Response fund to support the nhs and other product services. £5 billion. Statutory sex pic to pay will be paid to all those who choose to self isolate full stop unions have pointed out many workers are not eligible for it. Firms with fewer than 250 staff will be refunded. Business rates are to be abolished for the next year. Small businesses in england. There will be a £500 Million Hardship Fund to help Vulnerable People. And £i. 4 billion is to be invested in science to research the new coronavirus. In other measures, more than £600 billion is spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing by the middle of 2025. £2. 5 billion will be made available to fix potholes and resu rfa ce available to fix potholes and resurface roads over the next five yea rs. Resurface roads over the next five years. There will be a £1 billion Building Safety Fund to remove
dangerous cladding from high rise buildings after the grand fell fire. The National Insurance threshold will increase from 800 and 8006 and £32 to £9,500. Fuel duty will remain frozen for another year. Land rises in beer, cider and wine duties are all cancelled. Rishi sunak pledged more money forflood defences. There will be more rapid charging herbs for electric cars. And a new plastics packaging tax, although environmental groups have said the budget was a missed opportunity. We will have more on those measures to combat first this report from our Political Correspondent. The chancellor with his red box and budget day. A familiar sight but in farfrom familiar budget day. A familiar sight but in far from familiar circumstances. Rishi sunaks first budget a month after he was given the job comes with the economy facing a huge challenge as the country deals with the coronavirus outbreak. Mr
chancellor of the exchequer. The chancellor of the exchequer. The chancellor warned of disruption, up toa chancellor warned of disruption, up to a fifth of workers off sick, businesses unable to access some goods, Less Consumer spending. Combination of those effects will have a Significant Impact on the uk economy. But it will be temporary. People will return to work. Supply chains will return to normal, life will return to normal. For a period, it is going to be tough. But i am confident that our Economic Performance will recover. This can influence package he is planning, the nhs will get whatever resources it needs whatever the cost. There will be sick pay for everyone who has two stay at home. For smaller businesses, the cost of sick pay will be covered by the government and it will also be providing relief from Business Rates. I am announcing
today and totally £30 billion fiscal stimulus to support british people we re stimulus to support british people were britishjobs stimulus to support british people were british jobs and stimulus to support british people were britishjobs and british businesses through this moment. And of course, if further action is needed, as a situation evolves, i hope the whole house knows, i will not hesitate to act. I believe this represents one of the most comprehensive economic responses of any government anywhere in the world to date. Before the budget, the chancellor met with the bank of england chief. This morning, mark carney announced a package of support, Interest Rates cut to 0. 25 and billions of pounds freed up, extra lending power to help banks support firms. These measures will help keep firms in business and people injobs help keep firms in business and people in jobs and they will prevent a temporary disruption from causing longer lasting economic harm. But today was notjust
longer lasting economic harm. But today was not just about the response to coronavirus. Spending is back. There are significant commitments on infrastructure, hundreds of billions for roads, rail, broadband and housing. Cash for the nhs and education. The government says it is fulfilling election promises. This isjust the start. 0ver election promises. This isjust the start. Over the next few months, we will tackle the big issues head on, from our National Infrastructure strategy to social care and further devolution. This is the budget of a government that gets things done. Labour not convinced. And having ruthlessly forced down the Living Standards and life chances of millions of our people for a decade, the talk of levelling up is a cruel joke. The political message about levelling up is one you will hear again and again from this government but the immediate challenge is making sure the country and the economy are ready for the impact of coronavirus. We arejust we are just getting news of a sentence or Harvey Weinstein. He has been jailed sentence or Harvey Weinstein. He has beenjailed for 23 years. Sentence or Harvey Weinstein. He has been jailed for 23 years. The former hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein jailed for 23 years. Of course, there will be reaction to that throughout the afternoon and we will beat returning to new york very shortly. Lets move onto the main story, the budget, announced in the two hours. We can now head to westminster. He has opened the cash drinks. Yes, he has fulli cannot memory budget like that. That is mainly because of the coronavirus speeding the backdrop to all of this. A very solid start to proceedings today. You could tell that chancellor was trying to prepare people for what is the can. But to alarm them as well by saying, this is going to be a temporary problem but he has taken very
extreme action to deal with it. Things like stopping companies having to bathe Business Rates, Small Companies at least, for the rest of the year. The kind of thing you would never imagine would happen if anyone was any doubt as what is to come in the following weeks and months, and they wont be any more, the question is whether what he has done will be enough but it is a huge fiscal stimulus to the economy. That is to counteract what is going to come. The second half of the budget, if you like, was the longer term things that he wants to deal with and a big shift for a conservative government. He is effectively going to be borrowing billions more. A lot of it for infrastructure, the roads, the rail, the raw brand, all the things the conservatives talked about, things they promised people all over the country as they promised to level at, to make things more equal across the whole of the united kingdom, but it is not all for infrastructure, it is no not also capital spending, some of it is for day to day spending. It is the
difference between saying capital expenditure, we will knew when mobility new wing of a hospital, this is paying the salaries of the people who work. Yesterday talking to conservative mps, they are happy with extra borrowing if it is for infrastructure and investment they are not so happy when it comes to current spending. They still think there has to be fiscal prudence and they will be looking very closely to see if the chancellor sticks to those rules, rules incidentally he has said he is going to review later this year. We are in extraordinary times. We have Interest Rates at 0. 25 because of the coronavirus crisis. Is there a sense he has done enough question marquees expect exporting a short term dip with any recovery. I think he is saying, look, it is good be short. They are try to make sure that a temporary blip which they hope it is going to be because people staying at home and not going out, the kind of impact that will have on the economy, that is of course going to be huge. What they are try to do is make your that is not becoming
longer term problem. They are trying to make sure that Small Businesses dont go under completely. They want to make sure that workers have the money to pay the bills that they need to pay. If this is going to last for two or three months, they wa nt to last for two or three months, they want to be at the end of it to have the economy in a position where it can bounce back pretty quickly. But looking at the gdp, the growth figures today, there are certainly lots of mps looking at those, thinking, it is possible we are heading into a recession. Lets look at the spending review, the sender, come the summer. But also Opposition Party saying there are still gaps in all of this will remember the promise about social care, talking about a whole new approach to that, no mention of that today. And interestingly, barely a mention of brexit. Indeed, thank you very much. Iamjoint now brexit. Indeed, thank you very much. I am joint now by a director at the institute for Public Policy research
and david from the yorkshire post. We have to talk about coronavirus first. Isnt there a sense that what has been announcing a budget is going to be enough to get through this question mark we are living in a world of uncertainty. No one is quite sure what is going take to manage the risk of coronavirus. But i think that we have seen a very positive move from the chancellor to look to deal with some concerns of business at the current time. This is one of the red line constituencies of the last election. 0n the basis that there was to be levelling up, that was the promise, are you getting a sense that the north is now getting treated properly . I think it is welcome that regional inequality is now back in fashion at whitehall and i think thatis fashion at whitehall and i think that is something we are very pleased to see. Whether this budget does enough to level up is a different matter. I think there is a lot of talk about infrastructure, a lot of talk about infrastructure, a
lot of talk about infrastructure, a lot of talk about capital expenditure. But whether that will really replace the money that has been taken out of local economies as a result of austerity is another matter. I am taking of money lost to local education services, social ca re local education services, social care and to local services in terms of parks and all the rest of it. Transport was a rosy always an issue. Yes, i think the announcement on the dedicated part will hopefully help to go some way to alleviating that the future. The hope was not just about the cash, it was about the switch of power and this announce the switch of power and this announce announcement of a mayor was significant. People have been talking about devolution or a transfer of powers here for six years. Todays announcement is very significant. It is £18 million worth of funding for West Yorkshire to spend on things like transport and housing and skills and a big portion of that will be told we
are told spent on public transport. Public transport is a big issue in wakefield. There is a lot of feelings that people are not well connected in some of the smaller towns. And i think while there is a cautious welcome to todays deal, there have been one or two murmurings from labour mps and councillors in the last few days about leeds taking a huge slice of the money that is on offer. And there is the need to level up towns and re balancing there is the need to level up towns and rebalancing the economy, people will be keeping a close eye on how big a slice of the pipe wakefield gets. It has been a Long Time Coming but is there a sense that westminster understands what this area needs quite a mark i would not get too excited. We are very much at the start of a discussion on levelling up. I think today is welcome and the mood music is also welcome. But we need to see a much
greater devolution, bitterly of power. The power to be able to change things in your local area. What about the announcement of a mayor . The announcement that West Yorkshire has finally got what seems like quite a chunky deal is really welcome. The challenge now is to make that meaningful for People Living in wakefield and across the city region to make sure that they actually get to see some changes. That i guess is the real challenge ahead. We are talking about a new chancellor, a North Yorkshire mp. That will help, when it question mark in getting that understanding through question mark quite possibly. He is the richmond mp and that has been a conservative seat for some time. It is different to a place like wakefield which was labour since 1932 until the last election. But i suppose there is cautious optimism that with someone from the region in the oppression dance of downing street that will hopefully translate into a better quality of life for people around
here. Whatll read be really good to see is we now have a mayor covering 60 of the population in the north and what we need now is a roll out of devolution to the rest of the north and indeed to other parts of england as well. Lets talk money. I think you had hopes for the shared prosperity fund. Anything . Not that i have seen unless i have missed it. Ithink not that i have seen unless i have missed it. I think that is a real concern for an area like wakefield and the north of england. We know that brexit is good to be a challenge. We need to have some certainty about what services will be made available to help areas like the north manage and adapt to the changing relationship with europe. 0ne changing relationship with europe. One of the huge issues here is flooding. Was there enough to help those who are still suffering . You are absolutely right. It is a huge issue here. There was some flooding re ce ntly issue here. There was some flooding recently after the recent storms. Not on the huge scale seen in other
parts but it is still significant and a huge impact on homes and businesses. If you ask a lot of people, they will say, no money is ever enough to cover people, they will say, no money is ever enough to cover some people, they will say, no money is ever enough to cover some of that. Recently, the local authority revealed that the government would not actually be picking up any of the bill for their spending on the flooding and cleaning all that mess up. What they had spent did not actually meet the required threshold for the government to step in and cover the expenses. Whether or not todays announcement will trickle down to wakefield and cover enough of that, we will have to see. Finally, for the first time in forever, the word brexit has not been used in the last hour or so. But it is as well as coronavirus also a overshadowing everything at the moment. How does this budget move is on with that in mind . |j guess move is on with that in mind . guess coronavirus aside, i think it sta rts guess coronavirus aside, i think it starts the conversation about how we
asa starts the conversation about how we as a country can operate much more effectively as a whole nation economy, if you like. How we can try to deal with the regional divide that we know is one of the worst in the developed world. We believe that it is only by ensuring that all regions can prosper that uk plc can really punch above its weight in the global economy. Thank you both very much for your time this afternoon. We will get plenty of political reaction to this shortly but first lets go over to alice baxter in the studio who can tell us more about the comic impact. Thank you very much. After 27 days in thejob, rishi sunak has delivered his first budget and he spoke for over an hour. He kicked off as you have been saying, talking about coronavirus, which he said was likely to have a Significant Impact to the uk economy, with 20 of the workforce unable to perform at the same time. He announced a £30
billion spending plan to help mitigate against the impact of the virus. This included a promise that employees who choose to self isolate will be able to claim six pay on day one and not after a week. The chancellor also unveiled measures to help people who are not contracted, ensuring that they can claim jobseekers allowance from day one and more easily, he said that they would no longer need to physically claim this allowance in person. And for businesses with fewer than 250 employees, the government will refu nd employees, the government will refund the cost of that sick pay. He also said Business Rates will be suspended for a yearfor also said Business Rates will be suspended for a year for companies with a rateable value of less than 51 fair with a rateable value of less than 51 fair £51,000. It is the government to possibly yes first budget in 55 years outside the eu. And the 0br, the office for budget responsibility, said today vs budget
will be the largest sustained fiscal boost for 30 years. However, it is still downgraded its predictions from 1. 4to1. 1 still downgraded its predictions from 1. 4 to 1. 1 for uk growth. The chancellor also said that the government would stick to its so called fiscal rules it imposed on itself during its election manifesto in december. It didnt pledged to balance the books on day to day spending in three years and this mornings emergency rate cut by the bank of england cutting rates, that will help the government to balance the books as it is now cheaper to borrow money. Thank you very much. Lets get more reaction to that budget. thank you very much. Lets get more reaction to that budget. I think mps obviously weighing up the fact that half of this budget is about the backdrop of coronavirus, the steps that the government has to take to try and mitigate some of the impact thatis
try and mitigate some of the impact that is going to have in the coming weeks and months but then of course, there are longer term issues as well that rishi sunak comedy chancellor, is that rishi sunak comedy chancellor, is was trying to tackle. He is suggesting actually a huge rise in borrowing for. They would be. It is the way the tories reacted to the la st is the way the tories reacted to the last recession had not been so serious we said at the time that the way to respond to a recession is two invest. People will say is different now because balancing the books is much more what has happened in recent yea rs much more what has happened in recent years and you can afford to do it now. The deficit still exists. It is 2. 5 . The debt is way, way above anything that people would not think it should be a normal times. To be honest, that is a argument for another date was the big issue for
me is that on coronavirus, i think there are some things missing from there are some things missing from the governments response. There we re the governments response. There were serious issues like social care that was absolutely missed out today and also this was not a budget for Climate Change. This is not a green budget. I think both in the immediate response, i have been with other mp5 looking to cancel the five week wait for universal credit. And he missed that out today and the things that he did. He has talked about making it easier for those who are self employed to access benefits if and when it comes to it. That is right for some the fundamental problem is you have to wait for five weeks before you get universal credit. That is not good enough. We need that to change. The two child policy, limiting minimal children respond support, that is not good enough and it is dried in child poverty. Those things need to change andl poverty. Those things need to change and i hope in the days and weeks to
come, rishi sunak will listen to that because a lot of people, not just mps, but charities and others, think that is the right thing to do. But equally we need to see from this budget what the impact will be. We dont know yet who the winners and losers really are. Yes, there is a lot of big numbers, but actually, you know, what we know from hsz lot of big numbers, but actually, you know, what we know from h52 and other things is that if you are talking about investment spending, it actually takes a long time for that money to be spent in the economy. Actually you needed to do more to fund local authorities and others if you wanted to see a difference now. We have had ten years of restricting funding in this country and we have seen the impacts without anybody walking into their town centre will see how degraded a lot of our town centres are. The levelling up agenda, the government has made a lot about that. The whole election actually was about that for the conservatives and now they are saying they are going to do it.
heard George Osborne crow about the northern our house and the long Term Economic plan and nothing ever happened. Slogans, you give them out on budget day, but i will reserve get it judgment until i see actual action. I think the conservative mp is with us. I think you might be inside the house of commons in central lobby. You are someone who has campaigned very hard for a freeze in fuel duty. You have your way today. This was a workers budget and has cut the cost of living for ordinary folk. We maintain the freezing fuel duty and have also maintained tax cuts for low earners and invested millions in infrastructure. What about the idea of borrowing this much money not just for investment in infrastructure but for day to day spending question mackay spoke to lots of your colleagues yesterday and some of them are very concerned about that. They dont think that is what borrowing should before. Dont
forget, we have cut the deficit to 296 forget, we have cut the deficit to 2 of gdp. It was nearly 90 when we got into office. We are in a Good Condition and we have had those years of austerity and we need to spend the money because we face some significant economic challenges and we need to build up our physical infrastructure in our country and rebuild our social instructor as well. It is right that we spend the money in helping ordinary people with the cost of living. What about the response to coronavirus question mackay think listening to richey sooner, it was very sombre at the beginning as he relayed out the measures that will have to be taken rishi measures that will have to be taken rishi sunak. People are not spending, they there will be a clear head to the economy and looking at the growth figures today, it could well be that the country could be tipping into recession. Is that a concern, longer term . We face a Major Economic challenge and the
chancellor is doing everything to mitigate that. That is why Business Rates were slashed for Small Businesses in particular. That is why they have increased statutory stick sickbay, spending really is to try and help individuals who might be affected by this but also our Small Businesses, all the kinds of organisations and companies that will be affected if coronavirus spreads. We have a government that is in control, the chancellor was in control. We want to show the nation we have Economic Security for all citizens as well. Thank you very much was speaking to us this afternoon with your reaction there to the budget. A lot more from here later on. Back to you, simon. to the budget. A lot more from here later on. Back to you, simon. I am feeling a bit homesick pave shouting at you again . , yes, he is back. We are going to be answering your questions about what the budget means to you and your family. That
is on bbc news at half state tonight. You can e mail your questions. Half past eight. And tomorrow, we are to be running a special day of coverage answering your questions on coronavirus. We will be answering your questions about coronavirus. How long do symptoms last . Why is mask wearing actively discourage . If you touch a surface that someone also has got the virus has touched, you could pick it up. I am travelling on trains, should we still travel this week or two until we actually have an outbreak in the uk, there is no major risk of going on the train. Your questions answered, all day tomorrow on the bbc news channel. You are watching afternoon live. We are live in wakefield lets head to the United States. The wine scene
has been sentenced to 23 years in prison. Harvey weinstein. What sort of reaction has there been . Well, at the moment, Harvey Weinstein up a defence team is just speaking to the press outside but i can tell you that 46 women who testified against Harvey Weinstein, this was a hugely emotional moment. They left the courtroom holding each other, crying and people in the hallways were clapping for them, saying justice. Harvey weinstein of course was sentenced to the higher end of that five to 29 years in prison. He was given 23 years from a judge. The District Attorney put out a statement saying, we thank the court for imposing a sentence that plugs sexual predators and society and abusive partners on notice. They really thank the women hope came forward , really thank the women hope came forward, saying that Harvey Weinstein deployed nothing less than
an army of spies to keep them silent but they refused to be silent for also got a statement from the silence breakers, those are a group of other Harvey Weinstein accusers, including rose mcgowan and ashley judd, the first to come out against Harvey Weinstein publicly. They said the legacy will always be that he is a convicted rapist. He is going to jail but no amount ofjail time will repair the lives he ruined, the careers he destroyed all the damage he has caused. And that was really the message we got all morning during the sentencing reseeding speakers two of the victims, the main victims of this chain case, we re main victims of this chain case, were able to give victim impact statements. 0ne were able to give victim impact statements. One said Harvey Weinstein. 0ral statements. One said Harvey Weinstein. Oral sex on her in 2006 and said this attack had basically damaged her entire life irreparably. She was so pleased he had been convicted because he truly felt that
other women would have been attacked if he was not found guilty here. We also heard from jessica mann, she said Harvey Weinstein ray tearing 2013 in a manhattan hotel. She said it should have been preventable but Harvey Weinstein, even though some people did know about him, was able to use his power to get away with his crime the decades. A powerful moment in new york. A major moment and as we heard from the manhattan prosecutors and from others, really a signal that this case, so symbolic, bigger than Harvey Weinstein himself, the man, sends a powerful signal about the chances and the way Sexual Assault cases can be tried in the future. The latest
figures in the uk show there has been the largest day by day increase so far in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus. The department of health says there has been 83 new cases in the last 24 are many patients who have tested positive for coronavirus have sadly died. The Health Minister, Nadine Dorries, has said that she has contracted coronavirus. 0n dorries, has said that she has contracted coronavirus. On twitter, she expressed concern for her 84 year old mother who had been staying with her and has been tested today. They are now tracing people who she has been in contact with. Tonights football match between Manchester City and arsenal has been
the first game to be postponed because of coronavirus. This was the Health Minister, Nadine Dorries, asking questions in Parliament Last month. Today she was at home after being the first member of parliament confirmed with coronavirus. In a statement she said. It is understood Nadine Dorries started feeling peaky last thursday. It was the day she attended this reception at downing street attended by the Prime Minister. We have been told that she was not in close contact with mrjohnson, but one person she was in contact with has gone into self isolation. Its really important that people follow the procedures set out by the nhs. We need to say, if these are the measures needed to keep our nation say, we must all follow these instructions. The instructions can seem confusing. According to rachael maskell, nhs111 told her to self isolate even though she had no symptoms. Public Health England have said that they have assessed her close contact and only those with symptoms should self isolate. Nhs england is radically scaling up testing for the infection, from 1500 to 10,000 people tested a day. So far, more than 25 peak thousand people have been tested. 0ne far, more than 25 peak thousand people have been tested. One major holiday destination that has seen a steep rise in cases of spain. This
evening will see the First Premier League football match cancelled due to the virus. Manchester city against arsenal has been postponed asa against arsenal has been postponed as a precautionary measure. Some of the arsenal players are in self isolation after coming in contact with an official in a greek team two weeks ago. The disruption is likely to continue as the cases it increase. 120,000 people worldwide had been confirmed with the coronavirus, but more than half have now recovered. I mentioned a moment ago that Nadine Dorries has been confirmed with coronavirus. She employs three people, including her own daughter, and as we had a moment ago, she has
expressed concern about the health of her mother, who lives with her and has been tested today as well. Lets find out where we are. Joining me from the bbc newsroom is our health correspondent. We have had figures saying that this virus is on the increase. Yes, 83 cases confirmed. Epidemiologists say that this rise is in line with what we should expect, really. The key thing now is the contact tracing, finding out where these new cases got the virus from, whether they had come back from one of the hotspot areas or had been in contact with someone who had, whether they had no contact from abroad from anyone they know, and that is when that will show that there is more person to person transmission within the uk. If that is the case then it could be harder to keep track of the ongoing cases, but if it is, more cases from
abroad, then it will show that containment is working. We know that in the majority of cases over the last couple of weeks, most cases had been from people returning from abroad. We had betterjust remind eve ryo ne abroad. We had betterjust remind everyone of what precautions are required with these figures. It is becoming more important by the day. We are still in the containment phase. The full containment phases we have heard so much, containment, delay, mitigation. Keep washing your hands, that is important, hot water for 20 seconds if youre going to sneeze, make sure you do it into a tissue, and just be mindful of who you are around. It seems to be the public Health England are saying at the moment that a transmission might occur if youre in the presence of
someone who is infected, but you are in company with someone for ten minutes or more, its not the case that if youre in contact with someone you are infected, but dont touch your face with dirty hands, your mouth or nose or your eyes, keep washing his hands. Well do. Thank you for that. With the cases increasing, we are warned that the impact will be great. Just how gravies are going to be . I think we are going to will be working even more hard, and thats not just doctors, its receptionists, reporters, health
ca re receptionists, reporters, health care assistants, nurses, health care workers. In terms of what we have heard in the budget, the chancellor announcing that as far as he was concerned that money would be available, i reassured by things like that . I very grateful to the commitments, i believe £5 billion to fight the outbreak. As we all know, our nhs, ourcare fight the outbreak. As we all know, our nhs, our care service, has been underfunded in the past, and this is not a time for us to be worrying about money, whether it is the income of our staff or whether it is our own income, or anything else. What we need is to put lots and lots more resources into what we have so that we can have the best use of the facilities that you have in this outbreak, and we are ready to do that. Doctors and nurses are not immune to others. What is going to happen when surgeries start getting infections, and indeed hospitals . Can the nhs cope with this . What i
would ask watchers to do now is to talk to nhs111 or would ask watchers to do now is to talk to nhs 111 or to your gp rather than arrive at the surgery. Gp surgeries have been receiving aprons and gloves and some paper masks, but these are possibly not exactly what is needed to stop gps and nurses from catching this disease at your practice. What we do not want is for gps and nurses to spread this illness to the pearly and the vulnerable and older patients in the community, so it is very important that we do our best to contain this illness. To call 111 if you have flu type symptoms, and dontjust turn up type symptoms, and dontjust turn up at the gp surgery, or you will not be doing your part to continue to delay the progression of the disease. It is really important that we the disease, delay to spread it out, because that they will get the very most out of our facilities and
the beds in hospitals that we have. When we use phrases like the virus worsening significantly, what does that mean to you . It means that we get more people are infected. What we are likely to see is worried people, very understandably. Most or most of us who have got relatives with pre existing conditions, our natural instinct is to worry about them. That would generate people calling their gp to discuss their anxieties, and that is part of our role to talk that over, but the workload of all doctors and nurses is expected to go out, and we are already talking about healthy retired doctors, recently retired doctors, possibly coming back into the workforce to help our resources spread further, because it is very difficult to create more hospital beds, but in some circumstances not
impossible. What is even more difficult is to create more nurses and doctors overnight. That would panic, we hear it a lot at the moment talking about coronavirus, and listen to one Radio Station by they said people were taking hand sanitiser from the wall saying they pay the taxes and they were entitled to it, things like that can make a huge difference. Yes, sadly there are huge difference. Yes, sadly there a re lots of huge difference. Yes, sadly there are lots of people around like that, but thankfully those sort of people who come into the sea the gp, they are in the minority. More people are likely to be thinking about their elderly neighbours, and listening to their health advice, looking at nhs 111 online, their health advice, looking at nhs 111online, or their health advice, looking at nhs
111 online, or looking at the government website with the most up to date information, and hopefully you will find that information reassures you that we all following it and we will be working hard and doing their absolute best. Please bear with us, the service may not be exactly as you are used to. You may be asked to consult with your gp on the telephone. If you have the facilities, or you may find for the very first time that we gps are beginning to consult with you remotely. We are all used to this, but well do our absolute best to do it this way, to spread our services further. Well, i have just it this way, to spread our services further. Well, i havejust done it with you, talking remotely, and it works. Thank you for your time this afternoon. You can get the latest developments in the coronavirus outbreak, its on the bbc website. It includes the symptoms, how to
reduce the risk of becoming infected, and advice for people with Underlying Health conditions. Lets return to the budget. There will be a 27 billion pound investment in roads and motorways. Five billion pounds will be made available to develop gigabit capable broadband in mnost remote areas. An extra twelve billion pounds will be invested into the governments Affordable Homes programme. aniand there will be a one billion pound Building Safety Fund shift to remove dangerous cladding from high rise buildings, which comes after the grenfell fire. With me now with you now is a conservative councillor and a representative from unison. First of all, europe view of what the chancellor had to say. all, europe view of what the chancellor had to say. I think it has been a very good budget. The Prime Minister said on election day that we would get things done, and i think that is exactly what youre doing, and im pleased today because we have the announcement that we have got our demolition deal today, that fantastic. What difference will that fantastic. What difference will that make . It will release huge potential for yorkshire, its that make . It will release huge potentialfor yorkshire, its been a Long Time Coming and were very excited about it. The issue coronavirus dominating everything. You are a hospital porter, we have just heard from a doctor saying that things will get very difficult. What does that mean on the hospital floor . We will be looking at how the hospitals are going to cope with the increase of patients coming through the doors and we are very concerned that when we have got 94 bed occupancy in the hospital up the road, for example, just what is going to happen, where those patients going to go . Are there contingency plans under way . Of course, but under normal circumstances are hospital is jam packed, and we are really worried that we will not be able to cope with the extra workload. When rishi sunak, the new chancellor, says the nhs will get new fans, how do you respond . I will take that with a pinch of salt. They said
before that we would get millions of pounds, we havent seen much here. We want to see the money on the ground, people talking about it in westminster, we have heard about it all before. Weve heard about this levelling up, the strange phrase thatis levelling up, the strange phrase that is being used, is there evidence that westminster gets that, that money may be redirected here . think so. Staff from westminster will be distributed around the country, so that we can speak to people more on a local level. The funding gets directed in the right directions, so i think its very positive at the moment, and we have a lot to look forward to. I do think that the nhs copes very, very well and emergency services. I think we should follow government advice with regards coronavirus, keep ourselves, you know, wash our hands, not panic. What about counsellors at your level, what contingencies are you thinking about . Are you thinking about self isolating, taking time off work . Yeah, well, imjust carrying about my job off work . Yeah, well, imjust carrying about myjob is normal, i think most of us are appear, we have been pretty level headed about it. We office to take it seriously, and we will just we office to take it seriously, and we willjust have to see how it progresses. At the moment, i havent taken any time off work, and im not planning on doing, neither this is the point, a lot of people now, as soon as they are developing any symptoms, they have been advised to ta ke symptoms, they have been advised to take time off work. The nhs is about to see some unprecedented pressure on it. People are panicking. They are getting ready, in the hospitals, if they have to perform at high levels, they will do it. I think we need more potential workers. Levels, they will do it. I think we
need more potentialworkers. Protection for workers. The announcements, i dont think they will make much difference. We have thousands of workers on zero hours contracts, care workers are National Minimum wage, we have to look after these people, people who can get into peoples homes and help them, we need to more support from government for decent wages in order to do that, andl for decent wages in order to do that, and i dont think that has been addressed properly in this budget. We are not surprised by the level of funding and answer coronavirus . It was about 12 billion for coronavirus specifically. A lot of people say that is more than were expecting. Of course it is welcome, but it has to be directed at letter areas, as well, and of course we wa nt areas, as well, and of course we want to spend that money, but i have some concerns about the people that are delivering it, our members who are delivering it, our members who are delivering, and going to a
potentially infectious workplace every day, those workers need a lot more protection that theyre are being given at the moment. I want to make sure that the money goes to the right places. Just explain, on a day to day basis, when you go to work, how much of the time, of the discussion, is now back coronavirus . A lot of people are worried, but mostly people are just getting on with their work. People deal with infections day in day out in the nhs, obviously has been publicised a lot more. Are people panicking . I think a lot of people are panicking, and its not helpful when people are pinching toilet roll and stuff like that, but the nhs is used to dealing with that day in, day out, bed shortages are always an issue, and we just make sure that the services well cove red. We just make sure that the services well covered. Pinching toilet rolls,
is that happening . It is, theres a lot of panic going on, its unnecessary. People following the advice, working together, unions and management to local im sure we can get through this and make sure people are well looked after, as the nhs always does. Thats a very good point, people shouldnt panic, and also spare a thought for the Vulnerable People who may be can only get out once a week to purchase toilet rolls and hand wash, etc, and toilet rolls and hand wash, etc, and to leave them without, its not a good thing, so stay calm, and i am sure, hopefully, we will be ok. Thank you. Lets talk to our chief Political Correspondent vicki young, are you all right . Whats the reaction been . Keep calm, thats the
message and the chancellor. There is going to be a severe issue in the next couple of months will have an impact on the economy, but it will be temporary. Lets focus on the nhs. Iamjoined be temporary. Lets focus on the nhs. I am joined by be temporary. Lets focus on the nhs. Iamjoined byjohn be temporary. Lets focus on the nhs. I am joined byjohn appleby, chief economist at the nuffield trust. An independent health thinktank, and by martin lewis, we would expect a big chunk to be spent within the nhs. Its about 5 billion. Who knows whether that is enough. There is a line in the text of the budget which says that will be reviewed. We presume if it is not enough they will be more money forthcoming. Its not far off a blank cheque, which is surprising from the treasury, but as you say its not going to be a long term
thing, were not sure how long this emergency was coronavirus will last, but there will be a lot of pressure on the nhs. So, it could pay for extra staff, presumably, if they can find the extra but the big problem is in terms of care beds. Yes, with previous can or academics, what you needis previous can or academics, what you need is beds. You canjust rustle them up out of nowhere. You can have just private nurses, there is a cap on the nhs currently, may be that can be lifted. There is also a personal protection equipment. We may also be able to speed up testing, especially the turnaround in testing, so there will be things money can be spent on, but the key thing for the nhs and coronavirus is finding the space in hospitals to ca re finding the space in hospitals to care for people. What about the
longer term . We have already had extra money promised, theresa may did that, what about what you have heard today from the chancellor . He talked about a cash figure, 34 billion, but as you point out, there has been inflation, and that would be about 20 billion or so. That started in april, by the way, last year. But there was some extra money, but it looks to us that was covering the main manifesto pledges that the conservatives made, 6000 extra gps, extra nurses, free car parking and some other things, as well, so if you add all of that up over the next four years or so, and cover the whole of the uk, then you come to about 6 billion. So, they are covering their manifesto pledges, as well. What about what was not there that you were hoping for . He used the phrase, we have got
it done on roads, and what we havent got it done on a social care. It promises in the manifesto and making changes in coming up the plan. There doesnt seem to have been any sign of that. Yes, there have been plans over the last 15 or 20 years, suggesting how we may pay for social care, how we may organise and so on, that was very disappointing. The secretary of state, matt hancock, has said he is going to seek cross Party Support and consensus around us. There are only a few ways of paying for social care, a combination of private and public pay. You could do it out of taxation, like the nhs, and so on. The options are not great. In a sense, it is about choosing one going with that. When you listened to that budget today, did it feel to you as though it was a gear change, particularly for a conservative government, the way he was talking about extra spending . Yes, you could almost hear the clash of gears as
they accelerated out of austerity, really. There are huge amounts of money and that budget. It is not just for the nhs, where that has already been announced, and so on. Reports into coronavirus, investment and so on, the devil is in the detail with any budget, and it is all in cash terms, inflation and so on, but Interest Rates are incredibly low, deficit is down, the debt is down, there is quite a lot of manoeuvre for the government had to start spending. John appleby from the nuffield trust, thank you. Downing street, the official spokesman has been doing the regular afternoon briefing, and we are told that Tech Companies are being invited into downing street. That is because they want to make sure that the public has reliable information and coronavirus as we move, probably, edged towards that next stage, not to contain, but delay. I
think the expectation of some more announcements, they want to make sure the platforms have more Accurate Information so that people do know a little bit more about what is going on. Now, with a little bit more budget reaction, lets speak to martin lewis, the found founder of Consumer Finance information site, moneysavingexpert. Com. It was the most gung ho budget i remember it for a long time. We expected it to be one big subject, brexit, but it was coronavirus. Normally you have a lot of boring explanation and she wait for the rabbit and a hat at the end. That isnt what happened here, there was no rabbit from a hat, but durable after durable continually being pulled through, a Staggering Amount of money being spent. Imagine the sliding doors for a moment that labour had won the election, that
john mcdonnell was making the same speech, you can imagine the tory backbenchers yelling about the magic money tree, but things have changed. This is an entirely Different Administration from austerity, and they are pumping money out there. We hope sensibly, we hope they get it right, but there is a lot of action we need to carry terra gaetan this. National insurance, that is one element, just extend to people what this means and what it means the people. It is the one tax change that we really had. National insurance, yes, it counts to how much you get in your retirement, but really it is the form of income tax. The threshold has gone up so that most people who are earning over 1500, roughly, will get hundred pounds more in their pay packet because of that threshold change. Lets remember, one of the things they dont mention the budget is
fiscal drag. What that means is if you dont increase allowances each year, the government rakes more money in by not increasing. We see more coming in from National Insurance, but the thing to remember is, we have had coronavirus im sure you have talked about it endlessly, the new sick pay that will be coming out to people from day one, that you will get nhs one on one to certify, that will mitigate the amount of sick pay for people who are unemployed and zero hours contracts, but this is no good if youre used to earning two or £300 a year, because your bills will be commensurate with that, but does the big things happening on that level. Thank you very much. Lots more to dig through, people will be going through the detail for many more hours to come. Thank you very much. Plenty more from westminster, and more from wakefield here. Here is helen. Hello, the strong south westerly winds will be very blustery, mild weather for this time of year, but weather for this time of year, but we will change our wind direction. It starts to come down from the north and west. The showers will turn progressively to snow at lower levels, particularly across scotland, but over the hills of Northern Ireland and northern england, as well, the snow showers combined with the risk of ice mean some treacherous conditions through the night and into our thursday morning rush, and it looks like a day of sunny spells and showers, because we have the westerly wind and high pressure, foster scrape off
the cars, and showers vertically across knowsley and North Western areas, we escalate to scale or severe gale for some areas. Hello, youre watching afternoon live. Im simon mccoy, live in wakefield. The new chancellor rishi sunak delivers his first budget, with measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak at its heart. He promises a £30 billion package to stimulate the economy and help businesses and people get by. The british people may be worried but they are not daunted. We will protect our people and country. We will rise to this challenge. He abolishes Business Rates for many firms in england, extends sick pay and boosts nhs funding, but the labour leader says its not enough. Todays budget was billed as a turning point, a chance to deliver, in particular on the promises made
to working class communities during general election. But it does not come close. All that, just hours after the bank of england announced an emergency cut in Interest Rates to shore up the economy. Im vicki young, live in westminster with all the reaction from the budget which has been dominated by the coronavirus outbreak. The number of people whove tested positive for coronavirus in the uk rises by 83 to 456, in the biggest daily increase yet. Coronavirus hits the heart of government, as the Health MinisterNadine Dorries reveals shes tested positive, and is self isolating. And the disgraced Film ProducerHarvey Weinstein is sentenced to 23 years in prison for Sexual Assault and rape. Hello, everyone. This is afternoon live, im simon mccoy. Good afternoon. The chancellor, rishi sunak, has unveiled a £12 billion package to help the economy get through the coronavirus outbreak. In the last hour, the number of uk coronovirus cases in the uk rose to 456, up 83 in just 24 hours. Delivering his first budget, mr sunak said he would abolish Business Rates for many firms, extend sick pay and boost nhs funding. Labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn said ten years of cuts would make it harder to respond to coronavirus. All this on the day that the bank of england cut the base Interest Rate to a quarter of 1 . Lets look in more detail at the key
measures in the budget. To combat the hardship caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the chancellor announced a £5 billion Emergency Response fund to support the nhs and other Public Services. Statutory sick pay will be paid to all those who choose to self isolate, although unions have pointed out many workers arent elibible for it. Firms with fewer than 250 staff will be refunded for sick pay payments for two weeks. Business rates are to be abolished for the next year for some Small Businesses in england. There will be a £500 milion Hardship Fund to help Vulnerable People. And £1. 4 billion is to be invested in science to research the new coronavirus. In other measures, more than £600 billion is set to be spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing by the middle of 2025. £2. 5 billion will be made available to fix potholes and resurface roads over five years. There will be a £1 billion Building Safety Fund to remove dangerous cladding from high rise buildings after the grenfell fire. The National Insurance threshold will increase from £8,632 to £9,500. Fuel duty will remain frozen for another year. Planned rises in beer, cider and wine duties are cancelled. 0n the environment, mr sunak pledged more money forflood defences. More rapid charging hubs for electric cars. And a new plastics packaging tax, although environmental groups have said the budget was a missed opportunity. Much more on those measures to come, but first this report from our Political Correspondent nick eardley. The chancellor with his red box on budget day, a familiar sight but in farfrom familiar budget day, a familiar sight but in far from familiar circumstances. Rishi sunak possibly is first budget a month after he was given the job comes with the economy facing a huge challenge as the country deals with the coronavirus outbreak. Mr chancellor of the exchequer. The chancellor of the exchequer. The chancellor warned of disruption, after a fifth of workers off sick, businesses unable to access some goods, Less Consumer spending. The combination of those effects will have a Significant Impact on the uk economy. But it will be temporary. People will return to work. Supply chains will return to normal. Life will return to normal. For a period, it is going to be tough. But i am confident that our Economic Performance will recover. The significant package he is pledging the nhs will get whatever extra resources it needs whatever the cost
of their will be sick pay for eve ryo ne of their will be sick pay for everyone who has two stay at home, including benefits for those in the gig economy. For smaller businesses, the cost of sick pay will be covered by the government and it will also be providing relief from Business Rates. I am announcing today in total a £30 billion fiscal stimulus total a £30 billion fiscal stimulus to support british people, british jobs and british businesses through this moment. And of course, if further action is needed as the situation evolves, i hope the whole house knows i will not hesitate to act. I believe this represents one of the most comprehensive economic responses of any government anywhere in the world to date. Before the budget, the chancellor met with the bank of england chief. This morning mark carney announced a package of support, Interest Rates cut to 0. 25 and billions of pounds freed up,
extra lending power to help banks support firms. These measures will help keep firms in business and people injobs help keep firms in business and people in jobs and they will prevent a temporary disruption from causing longer lasting economic harm. But today was notjust longer lasting economic harm. But today was not just about the response to coronavirus full stops spending is back. There were significant commitments on infrastructure, hundreds of billions for roads, rail, broadband and housing, cash for the nhs and education. The government says it is fulfilling its election promises. This isjust the start. Over the next few months, we will tackle the big issues head on, from infrastructure to social care and further devolution. This is the budget of a government that gets things done. Labour not convinced. And having ruthlessly forced down the Living Standards and life chances of millions of our people for a decade, the talk of levelling at isa for a decade, the talk of levelling at is a crueljoke. The political
message about levelling up is one you will hear again and again from this covenant but the immediate challenges making sure the country and the economy are ready for the impact of coronavirus the government. Lets talk to our chief Political Correspondent vicki young, shes at westminster for us. Everybody is sensing that the Purse Strings have just been cut open. Yes, that i think partly it is for a reason and that reason is coronavirus. If you think back four weeks, we would not have predicted that rishi sunak would have been chancellor, let alone this would be the kind of budget he would be delivering but clearly under pressure today to try and spell out to people how serious it is going to be and what is coming and the hits that will mean for the economy. But at the same time, trying to reassure people by saying, i will give the nhs the money it needs, everything it needs, i will help people who are not point to be paid, i will help
businesses, who are facing difficult times for stops saying he is willing to put the money in but at the same time, trying not to alarm people that i think listening to what he had to say, people can be in no doubt about what is around the corner and everyone will be hoping that it corner and everyone will be hoping thatitis corner and everyone will be hoping that it is temporary, with the cove na nt is that it is temporary, with the covenant is trying to is to minimise that longer term impact the government. At the end of this, the Small Businesses will have managed to survive rather than going under. Jeremy corbyn not impressed, saying that this is not enough and that if labour had done this, all hell would have broken loose. Yes, it is an interesting difference. An interesting difference. An interesting shift. There is no doubt about it, there is a shift. The government is saying they have done it within their so called fiscal rules, although they are going to be put under review. It is going to be a huge amount of extra borrowing. The interesting thing is that we knew that they were going to borrow more money for infrastructure,
investment, as a quarry, roads, rail, broadband, all of that kind of thing, and lots of conservative mps happy with that. But if you look at the numbers actually a lot of this extra borrowing is for day to day spending and there are certainly several conservatives i have spoken to yesterday not so happy with that. They are very much in the market for keeping the books balance. They dont want there to be too much extra borrowing for spending that really should be coming from tax receipts. That could be an issue for the government in the months ahead but i think more imminently looking at the growth rates today, gdp, pretty much flatlining in the months of two january and a lot of people will be looking at the impact their well be from coronavirus and fearing we could be heading to a recession. Lot of the papers will be looking at the personality of rishi sunak. What is the feeling after four weeks into thejob . Is the feeling after four weeks into the job . He certainly would not have
thought he would be here delivering this budget but on the plus for him, he was already in the tragedy. He has spent time there and would have been across what was going on but actually is not just been across what was going on but actually is notjust the been across what was going on but actually is not just the fact been across what was going on but actually is notjust the fact he has had to take over in unexpected circumstances, it is the fact that he has had to rewrite an awful lot of his budgetjust in the last couple of weeks and if you think about it, some of the forecasts from the obr about it, some of the forecasts from the 0br and others are already out of date because they dont take into account the impact of coronavirus. Not only has he stepped into this job unexpectedly, he has a huge challenge on his hands in the coming weeks. Ac still shouting, stop brexit . He is asking for you, he is really missing you he will have to wait. I will come back to you later. Mark goldstone is the head of business representation and policy at the west and North Yorkshire chambers of commerce. He wants to see commitments to infrastructure and education. Are you happy with what you have
heard . Absolutely. Welcome to yorkshire on this lovely afternoon in wakefield. I think we are. The big ask from the chambers was devolution and we seem to have got that over the line. That is fantastic news. The announcement of a West Yorkshire mayor would have raised a lot of eyebrows and positive ones what else . It is less about the mayor, it is what comes with it. It is funding and the control of that funding and the ability to make decisions here from local politicians and civic leaders. You have been calling for this for a while. , yes, eight years. Some people will be saying, that is why the conservatives did so well in this area in the last election, not just the cash but the power. Ive getting the sense that westminster gets this . I think we need to see some quick wins from this government andi some quick wins from this government and i think this is one of them. This is a budget overshadowed with coronavirus. What are your members
saying about preparations, the support that they are getting . Our advice is to follow public Health England advice and listen to the government, listen to the various websites that they are directing people to. Generally, in yorkshire, we arejust people to. Generally, in yorkshire, we are just getting on with business. Getting on with business has always been a problem in terms of travel in yorkshire. In terms of trains and the infrastructure. Is there a sense that is being. I had just had a go. Now i am getting barracked here. Is there a sense that the transport issue is being dealt with . Both medium and Long Term Solutions and hs2 and Northern Powerhouse available fundamental to creating the extra capacity but in the meantime, we need to get on with the Trans Pennine route and we need to create extra batting on the existing network so if you are not getting fast trains to other cities actually, your local network has more capacity to put more trains on it. And of course freight. We need
to move it off the roads and onto trains. That is what hs2 will create. It is interesting, in the north, when we talk about the north south divide, the south forgets there is also a divide between northwest and northeast. Is there a feeling that is being addressed . I can only speak on behalf of west and North Yorkshire but there are device within our region. That is what devolution will healthily solve, we know where we need to put the Infrastructure Investments and what we know where we need to work on the skills agenda. Give us the power to make the decisions and we will make deliver what this region needs. This morning you had hopes and now you have looked at what the new chancellor has had to say. 0ut have looked at what the new chancellor has had to say. Out of ten, what would you give him . Blimey i am ten, what would you give him . Blimey iam not ten, what would you give him . Blimey i am not sure i can answer that. For devolution, iwill give him ten out of ten. And that is the big thing for you. Absolutely. Thank
you forjoining us. Lets talk to our chief Political Correspondent vicki young, shes at westminster for us. Lots of political reaction, as you would imagine for it was pretty sombre at the beginning of that budget, a very unusual atmosphere because of the chancellor laying out what he thinks needs to happen to mitigate the impact of coronavirus and prepare everyone for that. Lets get reaction to the whole budget. Im joined by the snp mp for Aberdeen North and deputy leader of snp group in westminster, kirsty blackman. A huge number of measures. Unlike anything we will have ever heard before. Has he done enough . There area before. Has he done enough . There are a huge number of measures but there needs to be. The scale of the crisis that we are potentially facing is massive. We have asked specifically for measures around helping employers and helping employees. And i think that the chancellor has stepped up. At have all the detail we would like to have this yet and i still have
significant concerns about what might happen for self employed people for example. I dont think there has that has been adequately covered. The other thing about the coronavirus issue is about Social Security payments and making sure the framework and guidance is in place for people to say actually, you dont need to come to these appointments during the period of time that you are being asked to self isolate or if we end up in a situation where Population Movement is restricted in some way. We need people to have the flexible 80. We would like to see that guidance coming forward sooner rather than later. The scottish committal have a role in all of that when the time comes, to make sure people understand the help is there the Scottish Government. Yes, the governments had been working well together across the devolved nations of the uk and i think that is positive and needs to continue. We need to make sure that nobody faces hardship as a result of coronavirus, whether it is an employer or employee. What about the longerterm
aspects of this budget. It seemed to be there was quite a big shift for a conservative government for lots of extra borrowing, billions of pounds in extra borrowing to fund mainly infrastructure but also day to day spending. Yes, it seemed kind of odd, they talked about all of this extra money for things like infrastructure but actually did not mention the elephant in the room, brexit was barely given a mention and if you look through the 0br forecast, it suggests productivity will be reduced, it suggests imports and exports will be reduced by 15 asa and exports will be reduced by 15 as a result of brexit. And it did not feel to me that even though he was going on this kind of spending spree, if you like, spending more than previous conservative governments, that he was tackling this issue head on and the other thing he was not doing was rolling back austerity. He is looking at not undoing the previous hardship that has happened. He is not removing the benefit cap in total. None of those things have happened. I am hugely concerned that actually, this may
not help the people that need it most. But nevertheless, it is still a huge shift and actually a lot of extra money will be going to people full stop some people will think that for you, it will never be enough, you will never be satisfied the Scottish Government will still have its block grant and we will be down in real terms on 20102011. That is not what is happening here. I think given that we are faced with the Economic Impact of coronavirus, the Economic Impact of coronavirus, the personal impact of coronavirus on end individuals, and also brexit coming, i dont think anything that he has done undoes those two economic hardships, if you like. Thank you very much. There was some talk of green measures in the budget. They have an ambitious Climate Change target but not eve ryo ne Climate Change target but not everyone thinks that they have gone far enough. It is a small step along
the road that we need to be travelling full supping to be dealing with Plastic Packaging at source. Tree planting, that isjust 20 of what the committee on Climate Change say we need to do. We have been suggesting we need to be planting 2. 1 million hectares of trees, not the 80,000 hectares the government has come forward with today. Not really enough and it is too little and it is getting on to be too late. A lot of motoring policies and there is wealth. Is that counteracting these green policies the government want to put in place because two i am not sure the government gets the Climate Emergency in a way that is dealing with motoring. We can adjust what the vehicles and expectoration to be dealt with. We need to liberate people from the need to individually owned vehicles and that massive cost that comes with it and invest in a decent transport info structure. That £27 million that is going into the road building project, that
could pay for the entire electrification of rail lines in the country and have some change left over at the end of it. Lets speak to rain newton smith, chief economist at uk Business Organisation the cbi. What kind of move business is in, having been preparing for brexit, now coronavirus, it is a very difficult time, isnt it . Ithink it isa difficult time, isnt it . Ithink it is a difficult time for businesses, it isa is a difficult time for businesses, it is a difficult time for everyone in the country at the moment and i think businesses are calm and prepared. We need all to Work Together to tackle what will now be a tough few weeks ahead. It was really good to see today both the bank of england and the chancellor working together to really support our economy through that. I think in a way, the budget, they were two parts to it, it was almost two budgets in one, you had one budget of national resilience, really focused on some measures to support
importantly on sick pay, emergency funding for businesses to protect jobs, Business Rates relief, 12 billion package to really support business and i think that is really, really welcome. I think there is a question in our minds whether some of those measures will go far enough in terms of supporting Large Businesses will this applies to the smaller ones. What have the larger businesses been saying to you question mark what larger businesses are saying is absolutely at the moment theyre focuses around people and supporting their staff and it is thinking about how they can be resilient to what might come ahead, making sure they can supply critical services. I think what were going to watch as things is whether they will be more support in terms of emergency funds for some of our larger businesses, whether they are hotels, or universities, there are quite a range of big employers who could face really tough times if we need necessarily to take more measures around people self isolate. Businesses are putting their plans in place but they need to be working with government to address the challenges as they come. And as you say, the second half of the budget, the longer term measures, a lot of extra borrowing. How does business feel about that . Importantly, the chancellor is sticking to his fiscal rules and we have to recognise extreme with macro Interest Rates are extremely low and ligament has capacity to borrow. The government. That is us investing now for our long term future growth and businesses. It is a lot of spending but it is on roads, infrastructure, innovation, things that will support growth over the longer term. Are you worried about growth because mark the figures today, gdp pretty much flat lining up today, gdp pretty much flat lining up to january, that is before coronavirus hits. A lot of people are worried we are going into a recession. In the coming weeks, i think growth could be disappointing but i think the also have to
remember we can learn from the experience of other countries that we will get through this. It is short, sharp, it will hit us over the next few weeks but we will come out of this and that is white is important that the chancellor also made some of those long term decisions on infrastructure, innovation, he needed to go a bit further on skills and the move to a low Carbon Economy but it was important investment for that future economy we want to see emerging as we come out of this in six months time. Thank you very much. That is the view from business. I think eve ryo ne the view from business. I think everyone here is preparing for a tough few weeks. And well be answering your questions about what the budget means to you and your family here on bbc news at 8. 30 tonight. Email your questions on yourquestions bbc. Co. Uk or tweet us with the hashtag your0uestionsanswered the disgraced hollywood film
producer, Harvey Weinstein, has been jailed for 23 years. He was found guilty of rape and Sexual Assault a fortnight ago. Earlier our correspondent nada tawfik gave us this update earlier our correspondent gave us this update from outside the court in new york. That sentence that was just handed down by this court was obscene. That number was obnoxious. There are murderers who will get out of court faster than Harvey Weinstein oil. That number spoke to the pressure of movements and the public. That numberdid movements and the public. That number did not speak to the evidence that came out of trial, that number did not speak to the testimony that we heard, that number did not speak to evidence, noise i did it speak to justice. I am overcome with anger at that number. I think that number rose cowardly number to give, i
think thejudge gave, rose cowardly number to give, i think the judge gave, just as i believed the jury caved, and i am not happy. I figured was very clear that nothing we did or said today was to make a difference. I think it shows what has been clear from the beginning, thejudge was shows what has been clear from the beginning, the judge was already clear to say and do what he was going to say and do not matter what we said today. I think it is showing a pattern in this case from the very beginning, Harvey Weinstein never really had a fair shake from day one andi really had a fair shake from day one and i am not here to say that he is and i am not here to say that he is a victim and i am not here to say poor harvey but i am here to say that we are looking for fairness and we did not get it. Gloria allred, the lawyer who represented many of Harvey Weinsteins victims, has said she believes the 23 year sentence handed down is fair and appropriate. if you are a sexual predator and you are confused, all you need to do is remember this. 23 years. And part of
the consideration in handing down a sentence by a court to a person convicted of felonies is to consider they deter deterrent effect. So for all those who are still preying on women, who want to engage in high risk taking of harming women and thinking you will get away with it, that campbell is likely not to pay off for you any more. And if you area pay off for you any more. And if you are a high profile figure, dont expect anything but equaljustice, dont expect more than equaljustice under the law. History willjudge this is a hugely important moment, wanted . Yes, absolutely. The District Attorney office in manhattan says that this is essentially putting sexual
predators on notice, the fact that thejudge went with predators on notice, the fact that the judge went with the higher end of that sentence, he was facing five to 29 years, 23 years really at that higher end. It really capped off a very emotional proceeding in new york. You had all six of the women who testified against Harvey Weinstein sitting in that courtroom waiting for the sentence. Two of the main victims, they actually gave state m e nts main victims, they actually gave statements saying how these attacks had irreparably damage their lives, scarring them and now other women would be protected now that Harvey Weinstein was convicted and behind bars. Essentially it was really interesting to see that despite that emotional statements, interesting to see that despite that emotionalstatements, despite interesting to see that despite that emotional statements, despite Harvey Weinstein being convicted, he showed no remorse in the court room, sitting in a wheelchair, he basically said he was confused, that he thought he had a good
relationship with these women and that he felt badly for what he called the thousands of men who will now be denied due process in the era. A very interesting day of hugely consequential moment and for really quite frankly how all Sexual Assault cases will be looked at in the future. For the prosecution side, for those others who are victims of Harvey Weinstein, they call themselves the silence breakers, they say forever his legacy will be is a convicted rapist and this will give other victims some courage to come forward and know that there are consequences for crimes like these in the criminal justice system. But as i say, Harvey Weinstein showing no remorse and actually in fact getting ready for another trial in los angeles that will take place at some point in the future. A lot going on. Lets return to coronavirus. Latest official figures for the uk show there has been the largest day by day increase so far in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus. The chief executive in scotland has confirmed the first case of Community Transmission there. 456 people have been found to have the virus and 6 patients who tested positive for coronavirus have sadly died. 10,000 people may be tested for the infection each day, according to nhs england, under new measures its introducing. Health minister Nadine Dorries staff has also tested positive for coronavirus. Around the world. The german chancellor Angela Merkel has warned the 60 to 70 of the population may be infected with the virus. Cases in the United States have jumped to over 1,000. And kuwait will suspend all flights to and from the country from friday until march the 26th. A further cobra meeting has been taking place in downing street this afternoon and the Health Secretary matt hancock will update mps on the uks
response in tackling the outbreak later tonight. The first top flight Football Game in the uk has fallen victim to the virus, with tonights match between Manchester City and arsenal suspends over fears of covid 19. Heres our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson. I made a statement on the 28th of january. This was the Health MinisterNadine Dorries last month answering questions in parliament. Now she is the first mp to be confirmed with the coronavirus cobit 19. 19. She confirmed with the coronavirus cobit 19. She said. It is understood Nadine Dorries started feeling peaky last thursday. It was the day she
attended this event at downing street, apparently she did not have close contact with mrjohnson. Nhs one on one will advise me, but what is really important that people do follow the procedures set out, and it will have a real disruption to business, to public life, and we need to say, well, if they are the measures that i needed to keep our nation safe, we must all follow those instructions. The instructions can seem confusing. According to rachael maskell, nhs one on one told to self isolate even though she had no symptoms. However, public Health England have said they assessed Nadine Dorries close contacts, and only those with symptoms should self isolate. They are radically scaling up testing for the
infection, from 1500 to 10,000 people tested per day, so far 25,000 have been tested, withjust people tested per day, so far 25,000 have been tested, with just a small percentage testing positive. 0ne destination that has seen a steep rise in cases is spain, with a jump of 370 cases in one day and 11 new deaths. This evening will see the First Premier League football match cancelled due to the virus. Manchester city against arsenal has been postponed as a precautionary measure. Some of the arsenal players are in self isolation after coming in contact with an official from a greek team two weeks ago who has the coronavirus. The disruption is likely to continue as the cases of the infection increase. So far, more than a people worldwide have been confirmed with this new coronavirus, but more than half have now
recovered. We arejust we are just hearing from geneva that the director general of the World Health Organization has been talking about coronavirus. He says it now can be characterised as a pandemic. A p pa re ntly can be characterised as a pandemic. Apparently that doesnt mean it is a pandemic, but it can be characterised as one. Trace every contact, protect and train your health workers, and lets all look out for each other. Because we need each other. There has been so much attention on one word, and you know that. Let me give you some other words that matter much more, and that are much more actionable. These
are prevention, preparedness, Public Health, Political Leadership and, most of all, people. We are in this together to do the right things with karma. We are in this together to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It is doable. Thank you very much director general. A fully stocked the question is, i will remind journalists joining the question is, i will remind journalistsjoining us the question is, i will remind journalists joining us dialling the question is, i will remind journalistsjoining us dialling in, it is star nine on your keypad. For those that are watching us. For those that are watching us. For those who are joining us on zoom, journalists can only ask one question so that we get as many as possible, so we will start with a
couple of questions. If you can come down and use the microphone, please. He speaks french so, the question is, at this stage of the epidemic, what is your recommendation when it comes to closing institutions such as schools, and what about closing borders and airports, and finally, what is the situation in iran . The decision to close schools and to do lockdown is an shutdown is of particular parts of the country are entirely based on a countrys own risk assessment, and it is a mix of
measures, for example some schools have been closed, like in china, whereas in singapore, schools were not closed. Governments make decisions on a mixture of issues, the risk, the likely impact of the measure, certainly, reducing or increasing social distance can certainly slow down the spread of the disease, but it is a poor substitute. In countries with lower numbers of cases, social distancing does not have the same Immediate Impact as contact tracing, isolation of contacts, quarantine contacts, because that means you are chasing the virus. When people move towards a broader based social distancing measures, it effectively accepts that the chains of transmission are no longer visible, so what you want to do no longer visible, so what you want todoa no longer visible, so what you want to do a separate everybody, because you dont know who is infected. It
isa you dont know who is infected. It is a much more Cost Effective measure at the beginning to identify people who are infected or potentially infected and isolate them from the community. When you lose track of the outbreak then you have to create social distance between everybody, because you do not know who is infected. It is a poor substitute for aggressive Public Health action at the beginning, but it may be the only option when you have effectively lost sight of the virus. It really does depend on the stage of the epidemic, and it sometimes depends on social acceptability. There is no point, in reality, and governments implementing measures that are entirely unacceptable within a local context, because it can create more tension problems. Again, without overdoing it, we would not, other than offering countries advice on specific situations, we do not have a specific rule for social distancing and school closures, etc. Iran, part of our international team
has already left iran, but clearly the situation in iran is very serious. There is a high number of deaths, a high number of sick people, and while the number of cases and the intensity of surveillance has increased, we would like to see that increasing even further, and we would like to see more support of the Clinical Care of sick people in iran, both within iran, certainly, but with support in the sport of the rest of international community. That is the head of the World Health Organization. Earlier, a statement, we are in this together and we need to do the right thing with calm. Now, characterising this as a pandemic, as far as the World Health Organization is confirmed that concerned. This course consists so
on. Back to the budget. There will be a £27 billion investment in roads and motorways. £5 billion will be made available to develop gigabit ca pable broadband in mnost remote areas. An extra £12 billion will be invested into the governments Affordable Homes programme. And there will be a £1 billion Building Safety Fund to remove dangerous cladding from high rise buildings, which comes after the grenfell fire. Henri murison is the director of the Northern Powerhouse partnership an independent body that was launched in september 2016 to represent the voice of business and civic leaders. Its good to talk to in person. Your reaction to what the chancellor had to say. I think it is a good start, you are not going to level up the country in one budget, but what this does do is get us on the path to having that more sort of fair and equal economy that we need if youre going to survive in a post brexit
environment. So, there is the cache level and the power level of this. It is enough cash heading north . think the devolved budget there is going to cities like greater manchester, eventually to places like the north east and places like yorkshire and, that will make a difference. That is building incredible schemes, in this part of the world, it is building a tram network to get from towns like wakefield into leads and cities like bradford. I think in this area it will go into the rail network and tram network. That will improve air quality and also get people into jobs, and improving transport is a key way to do that. So, that is the money. What about power . key way to do that. So, that is the money. What about power . I think it
will make a significant difference. There are politicians that make a strong case that they have been brought to that it bringing people together, they can make a difference on the ground, and i have confidence that a mayor in the us yorkshire would get a great deal, this is what we have seen from others, and if they work with governments can unlock significant private sector growth. You are calling for a return of the green book, i dont know if you are happy now that it hasnt been returned . We are seeing revised view of it, and we are looking at how these projects will be focused on delivering new growth rather than
just things like london and the congested road and Rail Networks they have. A lot of projects in the north of england have got through the green book, but they didnt get funded because a political system is weighted against them. So, the green book was part of the system, but it also helps with this, because they can advocate for the infrastructure, and places like the humber and the tees valley, though they are not so glamorous, they can bring real benefits. It means these projects are not only more likely to be committed to. Youre sounding quite positive. I think we have seen a northern chancellor bringing great investments of the Northern Powerhouse. We need to see others using the comprehensive spending deal to make it real difference in
places like wakefield, because if we dont do that, we are building trains to know where that take the people to jobs that may exist. We need to see more. Lets talk to our chief Political Correspondent vicki young, shes at westminster for us. It has been quite striking that across the parties there has been consensus about coronavirus, this is dominating everything, but there are long term plans that will be picked overin long term plans that will be picked over in the coming hours. Im joined by someone from. De if so, the effect on the economy should be temporary. Yes, its important when we are assessing this budget,
that we have that short term crisis from the epidemic, but we had the longer term crisis that we had before the budget, Climate Change and levelling up, the level of inequality across the country. On tackling coronavirus, i would give this budget about six out of ten. The key gaps are around sick pay and the Social Security system that we put in place. We need to protect people as a self isolate, and the big problem at the moment is that if you dont earn enough to be eligible to sick pay, none of the changes today for will affect you. You had today for will affect you. You had to go back to universal credit. It isa to go back to universal credit. It is a problem also that sick pay is paid at too low a level. We are the Second Lowest in europe, about £100 a week, thats not enough to keep people afloat. Looking at some of the longer term, there is a change here, a huge amount of borrowing to pay for infrastructure. Lets talk
about that. Levelling up, as they call it, is it going to work . One thing to think about is on the levelling up question, we dont know where in the country this will be spent. The allocation of this money will be crucial, whether its london in the capital that needs it or places elsewhere. We know from the advisers on the committee on Climate Change that we need to be spending about £40 billion a year is an investment to get where we need to be by 2050. At the moment we are seeing about 10 billion. Iton improvement, but its not yet on the order magnitude we need. They are very ambitious targets, arent they on Climate Change . Where else can they spend the money will it make a difference . The targets are not that ambitious, they are the minimum. Many people are saying that we need to get to net zero 2040 or 2045. The
priority at the moment is whatever youre aiming for, those projects that we need to have, electrification of transport, rail, reforestation because of the carbon it takes out of the atmosphere, these are all the types of projects that no matter what our ultimate end goal is, we will have to do them at some point, and they need to be ramped up. So there is an opportunity in the longer time to have new industries . Absolutely, the uk has an advantage, we are becoming World Leaders in technology for heat pumps and how we insulate our homes, we are one of the first countries to make a move into these technologies, and at the moment it doesnt look like the government is addressing this longer term challenge in perspective. Six out of ten on coronavirus, but probably for out of town on those other issues. So, what they are putting into research and development, element, but those
people who have power and downing street are keen on. It will make a big difference in the long run, but to focus spending on infrastructure to focus spending on infrastructure to get in at zero, that is what we are looking at the moment. Probably about to have a quarter of what we needin about to have a quarter of what we need in order to reach those targets. During the general election the conservatives spoke a lot about how they want to help other parts of the country take away some of the stuff from the south east. Lets face it, there will be lots of regions of britain saying london has too much, we want to have more. Is there anything here that shows there will be able to deliver on that and deliver on it quickly . will be able to deliver on that and deliver on it quickly . I think we are yet to see the answer on that, thatis are yet to see the answer on that, that is part of the problem here. We dont what the allocation of funds is. We know that part of levelling up is. We know that part of levelling up isntjust is. We know that part of levelling up isnt just about is. We know that part of levelling up isntjust about regional inequality, it is also about inequality, it is also about inequality across households, and we saw things on National Insurance contributions and a cut in payments by workers, and that tax cut, although it sounds good as a sound
bite or in the budget speech, it doesnt actually reach 4 million of the lowest paid workers, because book they already earn less than the current threshold. So, it is levelling up in a geographic sense, but also across households, and we havent seen that for people in low incomes. The kind of questions that will be asked more, as you know, with budgets, we listen to them and people trawl through the detail and discussions come. Just looking at the reaction from the World Health Organization on coronavirus, and the use of the word pandemic is a description does not change what we do. The director general has been talking in the last few moments in geneva, lets hear what they have to say. We
have been assessing this outbreak around the clock, and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming is levels of the spread and severity, and the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment at covid 19 can be characterised as a pandemic. Couple of other breaking lines on the pandemic, a state of emergency has been declared in hungary, also in spain, the match has been postponed from the 18th of april. Russia has suspended most flights from italy, france and spain due to
the coronavirus outbreak, so the depth of the crisis deepens across the world with every hour. Thats it from me here in wakefield for now, it is not out of the business needs. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. As weve been hearing, the new chancellor, rishi sunak has presented his first fiscal plans since it won the election. Well get reaction from this city injust a moment. Ahead of the budget, the governor of the bank of england, mark carney, announced an emergency cut in Interest Rates to shore up the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak. And banking watchdog the Prudential Regulation Authority has underlined warnings to lenders not to take advantage of a temporary relaxation in rules governing how much cash banks need to hold to increase bonuses or dividends. Yesterday, there were two big events affecting financial markets. The day began with the surprise announcement from the bank of england that it will enforce an emergency cut in Interest Rates, and limit bank lending in order to shore up the economy. That was followed at lunchtime with rishi sunak delivering his first budget to set 27 days after being handed the keys to the treasury. But lets first look back at how the day began with the Outgoing Bank of england chief mark carney explaining his reasons behind the emergency cut. The bank of englands actions today comprise a timely and powerful package to support uk businesses and households in order to bridge a temporarily difficult period and to mitigate any longer lasting effects on jobs, growth, and the uk economy. The bank is coordinating its actions with those that the chancellor will announce later today in the budget in order to ensure that our initiatives are complementary, and that they will collectively have maximum impact consistent with our independent responsibilities. The bank will also continue to coordinate closely with our international counterparts. Roll forward a couple of hours, and rishi sunak referred to the cut in rates saying that the government has been working closely with the bank on its emergency measures. Fora period, it is going to be tough. We cant avoid a full on demand, because the primary driver of that reduction in consumption, the primary reason that people are not spending as normal is because they are following Doctors Orders to stay at home. So, the right immediate policy response is to provide security and support for those who get sick
or cant work, through funding our Public Services and a strength and safety net. And, on the supply side, the right response is to provide a bridge for businesses to ensure that what is a temporary impact on our productive capacity does not become permanent. In other words, our response will be temporary, timely and targeted. That response is clearly and closely coordinated with the bank of england. The governor and i have been in constant communication about the evolving situation, and our responses have been carefully designed to be complementary and to have maximum impact consistent with our independent responsibilities. The chancellor then kicked off his speech by talking about coronavirus the issue he cited as being at the forefront of most peoples minds. He admitted the virus is likely to cause significant
impact to the uk economy, with 20 of the workforce unable to perform at the same time. And he unveiled a massive £30 billion plan to help keep the uk economy going. Whilst also promising to keep within the governments own spending rules imposed on itself during its election manifesto in december. It pledged to balance the books on its day to day spending in three years. Well, the 0br has said todays budget will be the largest sustained fiscal boost for 30 years. But what does the city think . Lets find out. Joining us now is craig erlam, Senior Market analyst at oanda. Craig, this was a very expansionary budget with a wide variety of measures and yet, even combined with the bank of england rate cut earlier, there appears to have been a collective shoulder shrug in the markets . Yeah, absolutely. What you have to marry member with regards the markets is that they start to talk about this massive expansionary budget with what feels like four months. Spinning Interest Rates cuts months. Spinning Interest Rates cuts months ago, in particular when we saw the meeting of the g7. We have since seen the federal bank cuts, bank of australia and others all cutting Interest Rates in the aftermath of that. There was speculation we might see a coordinated response from the bank of england and the treasury, so todayss overall package didnt come as an enormous surprise. It todayss overall package didnt come as an enormous surprise. It was good to see that it was thorough and hard hitting, good to see that it was thorough and ha rd hitting, but ultimately good to see that it was thorough and hard hitting, but ultimately will properly have to wait a few months just to see how effective this is going to be, and ultimately the test is going to come from the small and medium sized businesses who i am sure will be telling us how easy it is to be accessing the support. Judgment on the response to coronavirus announced today in the budget will ultimately come over the next few months how do you think business will react . Do you think theyll find the measures encouraging . I certainly think they will find encouraging, and the changes to Business Rates is one area by there will be particularly encouraged. We have been talking for more than a year about businesses complaining about Business Rates and how hurtful they have effectively been for various small and medium sized businesses, in particular, so i think they will find some of these measures encouraging, and the prospect of others deeply encouraging, as well, but it all depends on how easy it is to access the support. The idea is the first step, the ability to access it and make a significant difference in the short to medium term is another idea entirely. How you define good businesses may be up to some
dispute. Im sure therell be plenty of holes picked these policies over the coming weeks. The initial reaction to it has been very positive, even if the Market Reaction would suggest there is not too much happening. What about the overall tone of the budget . It was a warmer tone to the private sector then what businesses have been used to hearing so far. Especially when you look at some of the things Boris Johnson said previously, that people have been associating with a harsher tone towards businesses, but this is a warm message. If you look at ecb, the old whatever it takes line, rishi sunak was keen to try that message home. They want to show that they are keen to be on the side of
businesses, different to the budgets that we have been accustomed to hearing from the conservatives. Craig erlam there from 0anda. Well, as craig was saying after an initial surge in the morning, after mark carney made his announcement matching the cut made by the Federal Reserve last week the ftse 100 in london then ran out of steam falling over 1 to end the day in negative territory as investors weighed up whether the coordinated monetary and fiscal stimulus could counter the shock from coronavirus and drop in oil prices. Across the pond, us stocks also opened lower. It doesnt help the overall market pciture as of tuesdays close, 8. 1 trillion dollars in value has been erased from Global Stock Markets in the recent rout. However, sterling clung to most of itsearlier gains today the double barrelled response to coronavirus from the bank of england and the government helping to lift the pound from a one week low hit in the previous session. The strong south westerly winds will be quite blustery, some mild weather for this time of year, but weather for this time of year, but we will change our wind direction. It remains a likely went into tomorrow, but it starts to come down from the north and west, so what will we find through the night is shower is turning to snow through lower levels, particularly across scotland, but over the hills of Northern Islands of northern england, as well, the snow showers combined with the risk of ice meaning some treacherous conditions through the night and into tuesday morning. Because we have got the north westerly wind and we have got low pressure close by, all of us will be having a cold start to thursday morning. Some frost to scrape off the car is, as well, and showers rushing through, particularly across North Western areas, snows to light levels, and feeling cold for most of us. Today at 5, the chancellor unveils the biggest spending budget for over 20 years, with massive injections of cash, to protect the economy, against the impact of coronavirus. In his first budget, rishi sunak said coronavirus would have a significant effect on the economy, but said hed do whatever it takes, to protect business and jobs. The british people may be worried that they are not daunted. We will protect our country and our people. We will rise to this challenge. Labour said that the task of boosting the economy was more difficult after a decade of austerity. Having ruthlessly forced down the Living Standards and life chances of
millions of our people for