Coronavirus: Sunak to head new economic and business response committee
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked his chancellor Rishi Sunak to head up a new committee specifically dealing with the economic fall-out of the coronavirus.
The economic and business response committee will consider the impact of Covid-19 as it continues to spread throughout the world, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed this morning.
Business secretary Alok Sharma will deputise. More details of exactly what the committee’s remit will be, and what powers it might have, will be made available shortly.
Johnson and Sunak also met the new Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey this morning, just hours into his tenure, to discuss the impact on markets, as well as the UK’s fiscal and monetary response including action taken last week.
The Bank of England cut interest rates back to record-lows of 0.25 per cent on Wedsnesday morning, ahead of Sunak’s first Budget. The chancellor then went onto pledge a £30bn package of stimulus, of which £12bn was new money earmarked specifically to deal with the coronavirus fall out.
Measures include statutory sick pay made available to all those advised to self-isolate because of the virus, with the government refunding the cost to businesses for up to 14 days at a cost of £2bn.
Sunak also pledged to pour money into the National Health Service, saying it would have however many “millions or billions” it required to tackle the disease. “Whatever it takes, whatever it costs, we stand behind our NHS,” he said.