General

More than 20 million people around the UK have now received a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, marking the fourth-highest vaccination rate worldwide. The UK government aims to extend coverage to everyone over 50 or at risk by 15 April and all adults by 31 July.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the dissolution of the UK government’s highly popular Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) in his Budget this lunchtime, which included £65 billion in new fiscal measures to support the UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

An hour before New Year’s Day, at 11pm on 31 December 2020, the UK completed its formal departure from the European Union (EU). It was an unceremonious conclusion to the four-and-a-half-year saga since the referendum.

The latest UK national lockdown represents a new kind of challenge for the Government: to articulate to Covid-weary households and businesses that things will soon get better, but first they will worsen. An ambitious national vaccination campaign is underway, raising hopes that the end of the pandemic is in sight. However, at the same time we are in the grip of the virus with rates of infection soaring, exacerbated by a virulent new strain.

After Prime Minister Boris Johnson reluctantly announced a second national lockdown in England on Halloween to suppress the second wave surge in coronavirus cases, Chancellor Rishi Sunak responded by extending the government’s flagship loan schemes. It was perhaps inevitable, but the current extension may be the last.

Britain’s recent descent into a coronavirus ‘second wave’ with the UK government succumbing to scientific and political pressure to enforce another national lockdown in England, will blunt the momentum of any short-term economic recovery.