How the papers are treating Sunak’s pandemic budget
Sunak’s leadership hopes rest on his massive financial gamble coming off
Inevitably there is a split between what we used to call the tabloids which focus on the meal deal while the Guardian the Telegraph and the Financial Times highlight the big overall worries for the economy.
There are two big areas for concern summed up by the Guardian’s focus on possible job losses and the FT’s emphasis on the huge amount of borrowing that will be required. The Times notes that the pandemic support plan now exceeds the annual spend by the UK government on the NHS which really put this into perspective.
Another huge Sunak gamble is with his plans to boost the hospitality sector. Getting people back to work is clearly a key objective but what happens if this acts as the catalyst for more people to be affected by the virus? One thing is for sure Covid19 has not gone away and incentivising people to get into situations where they could be affected might not with hindsight prove to be smart.
On the betting market Sunak remains as second favourite to be next PM with punters rating his as a 17% chance.