IN SICKNESS & IN WEALTH
Coronavirus Budget rescue pours £30bn into cash injection for NHS, sick pay shake-up and small firm tax cuts
A £30BILLION coronavirus rescue plan has been revealed by new Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his first Budget today, including a shake-up of sick pay and huge tax cuts to help business.
Mr Sunak rolled out his bumper three-point economic action plan this afternoon to try to stop the spread of the deadly disease - with radical tax cuts, extra sick pay and help from the Government.
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The news came as the number of coronavirus cases spiralled to 460 this afternoon as the virus continues to spread.
Eight Brits have now died from coronavirus with the World Health Organisation declaring it a pandemic.
With markets in freefall and the UK at risk of being dragged into a global recession, the new Chancellor unveiled his bold package of measures to help Britain see off the deadly bug.
And he raided Treasury reserves to promise the NHS “whatever it needs” to treat the thousands expected to fall ill.
His dramatic actions were closely co-ordinated with the Bank of England.
Hours earlier, at 7am, its governor Mark Carney carried out a shock interest rate cut of 0.5 per cent to give debt-laden Brits relief.
It came without any time to spare as PM Boris Johnson is set to admit the nation has lost its battle to contain the spread of the virus.
The Government will now begin imposing movement restrictions, he will state.
Today's ground-breaking Budget includes plans to scrap business rates for businesses for a year, a fresh loan scheme to help small firms, and new help for people to claim benefits help from day one.
Brits will be able to get sick pay if they have to stay at home - even if they don't have any symptoms of the virus bug.
And they will be able to get a doctors' note through NHS111 instead of a GP.
£12billion of coronavirus help and a further £18billion to boost the economy were revealed this afternoon.
Mr Sunak told MPs in the Commons today: "I want to set out our economic response so we bring stability and security.
"Let me say this: We will get through this - together. The British people may be worried, but they are not daunted.
"We will protect our country and our people. We will rise to this challenge."
He said that the plans would be "temporary, timely and targeted".
The three point plan set out by Mr Sunak is as follows:
1. HELP FOR BUSINESSES
The Government will scrap business rates for the entire year for millions of firms.
And hotels, night clubs and gyms will get a huge discount too.
Banks will offer loans of up to £1.2m to support small and medium sized businesses affected by coronavirus.
The Government is to pay businesses for the cost of extending sick pay packages for 14 days as well.
2. HELP FOR WORKERS
Mr Sunak revealed plans to make it quicker and easier to get benefits by removing the minimum floor in Universal Credit.
He told MPs: "I'm relaxing the requirement for anyone to physically attend a jobcentre; everything can be done by phone or online."
Those on ESA will be able to claim for help on day one rather than day eight.
3. HELP FOR THE NHS
And the NHS will get whatever funds it needs to tackle the virus, he said.
That will start with a £5billion emergency response fund - and more cash will be made available if needed later on.
In a huge ralling cry to the nation as he reassured them Britain's Government had a full plan for the outbreak, he insisted that he would also deliver on the election manifesto promises.
He said: "We promised to get Brexit done, and we got it done.
"We promised to let hard working families keep more of what they earn. This Budget gets it done.
"We promised to level up, with new roads, railways, broadband and homes. This Budget gets it done.
"And, yes, we promised record funding for our NHS and public services. This Budget gets it done.
"This Government delivers on its promises and gets things done."
On top of his coronavirus action plan, Mr Sunak announced the biggest Budget splurge in 65 years - with plans to fix Britain's roads, railways and broadband.
Mr Sunak - who has only been in the top job for a month since Sajid Javid quit - said he will invest record amounts in Britain's crumbling infrastructure.
He pledged a £100billion spending spree to help left behind Britain catch up - with giveaways for every part of the country.
The vast array of nationwide projects will start delivering on the PM’s election promise to level up struggling parts of the country, he told MPs this afternoon.
That includes the "biggest ever investment in strategic roads and motorway over £27billion of tarmac".
He vowed: "If the country needs it, we will build it."
The infrastructure revolution included:
- 4,000 miles of new road, with more railways and extra stations on the way
- Funding to fix a whopping 50million potholes.
- A £5billion boost for broadband to make sure it can connect Brits across the country
- £15billion will be ploughed into rural broadband networks to give the public better mobile signal
- New stations and railways are on the cards well
In a bold rallying cry, he told MPs in the Commons: "This is a Budget that will deliver on our promises to the British people.
"We promised to level up, with new roads, railways, broadband and homes.
"This Budget gets it done. This Government delivers on its promises and gets things done."
In a sweetener for Brits concerned about the impact of coronavirus on their finances, he also announced a string of juicy tax cuts.
These include a cut to National Insurance which will give 31million workers an extra £103 a year and a freeze on alcohol duty for only the second time in 20 years.
Fuel duty was also frozen for the 10th successive year, and the hated Tampon Tax was scrapped.
The Chancellor also announced he was scrapping the 'Reading Tax' on books and newspapers - including news websites.
Smokers will pay an extra 27p for a pack of 20 cigarettes from tonight, as the tobacco tax is hiked by an extra 2 per cent above the current inflation rate of 1.8 per cent.
The average pack of the most expensive cigarettes in the UK's big four supermarkets currently costs £12.46, meaning it'll increase to £12.73.
Mr Sunak also announced a hike in the NHS immigrant surcharge for using the health service to £620.
The spending spree takes the Government’s infrastructure investment total to £600billion between now and 2025.
New rules will ensure money is spent where it has the greatest impact on levelling up, rather than just on where it is the most profitable, such as the South East.
DISHY DELIVERS
By Tom Newton Dunn, Political Editor
THE nerves were obvious for all to see, as Rishi Sunak tightly clutched his Budget speech on the green benches beside Boris.
The expectation of a nervous nation bore down hard on the 39 year-old rookie Chancellor, who had only been in the job for three weeks and six days.
Just before standing up, he snatched a final glance at wife Akshata, sitting in the public gallery.
She struggled to suppress a proud grin as the Speaker called her husband’s name.
But for the next 65 minutes, he barely missed a step or bungled a single pronunciation as he held the House’s complete attention.
Segwaying from the high drama of coronavirus to his post general election giveaway fanfare would have been no mean feat for a Cabinet veteran.
But Dishy Rishi, as Treasury ladies have nicknamed him, pulled it off.
Now the nation waits nervously again to see whether his £175billion spending gamble also pays off.
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Sick pay help for small businesses 'is a relief'
SMALL business owner Helen Rankin says her company will benefit from the Chancellor’s announcement to refund small businesses with up to 250 employees if their staff take time off work due to coronavirus.
The 46-year old started her small business, Cheeky Wipes, selling reusable baby wipes in 2007 when pregnant with her first child Alfie, now 15.
Now she has four children and sales reached £2.45 million last year.
Based in Seaford, near Brighton, Helen employs three part-time workers who are all mothers.
Helen Said: “The fact that we can claim back from the government for employees who need to self isolate is a massive relief.
“Obviously this could be a huge expense and having something in place to mitigate this is really helpful.”
The Chancellor also announced a range of relief measures for small businesses in relation to the outbreak.
Helen said: “The steps the government is taking to protect high street businesses during this coronavirus outbreak are great on the whole.
“Scrapping business rates for shops and cafes for example will be one less overhead which is welcome at times like this.
“In addition, the prospect of ‘business interruption’ loans is good, as it’s such a worrying time for the economy.”
Helen’s business, which now sells a range of reusable items including make-up removing pads and period pants, has benefited from the public becoming more aware of environmental issues.
She said: I’m delighted the unfair ‘tampon tax’ has been scrapped finally.
“I’m really happy with that one!
“There were some good steps towards protecting our environment too, which is great, with plastic packaging tax and the additional import taxes on the import of non-recyclable materials.”
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White House expert warns deadly Coronavirus will spread and more will die
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