Coronavirus UK: £330bn of business loans made available as PM says school closures 'under continuous review' – as it happened

• The government will guarantee £330bn of loans to businesses in an “unprecedented” package of financial support to shore-up the British economy as the coronavirus outbreak escalates. As Richard Partington reports, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said if more help was needed it would be provided, with a pledge to deliver “whatever it takes” to keep companies and people solvent. Saying the British state would need to intervene in the economy in ways that were unimaginable just weeks ago, the chancellor said he would also provide tax breaks and other measures worth £20bn to protect companies and households suffering amid the economic collapse triggered by the virus.

• Boris Johnson has likened the fight against coronavirus to a wartime enterprise. In his opening remarks at the press conference where Rishi Sunak announced the rescue package for business, he said:

We must act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy. That’s the main purpose of this press conference this afternoon ...

Yes this enemy can be deadly, but it is also beatable – and we know how to beat it and we know that if as a country we follow the scientific advice that is now being given we know that we will beat it.

And however tough the months ahead we have the resolve and the resources to win the fight.

And, to repeat, this government will do whatever it takes.

• Johnson has hinted that the government is moving closer to announcing the closure of schools. (See 5.48pm.) Earlier the largest teaching union, the National Education Union, called for schools to be shut. (See 11.50am.)

• Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, has said the government is advising against all non-urgent travel abroad for the next 30 days. (See 12.44pm.)

• Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, has said that the restrictions on social contact announced yesterday will be in place for months. (See 2.47pm.) When it was put to him that they could last 18 months, he said he did not know - but he did not reject the possibility outright.

That’s all from this blog for tonight.

But there will be more coverage on our general coronavirus outbreak live blog all evening. You can read it here.

Here is some comment on the Rishi Sunak package for business from thinktanks and journalists.

From the Resolution Foundation, a thinktank focusing on work, poverty and inequality

From the Telegraph’s Jeremy Warner

From the BBC’s Andrew Neil

From my colleague Aditya Chakrabortty

From the BBC’s Faisal Islam

And this is from Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary.

Labour says the Rishi Sunak package of measures does not do enough to protect workers. In a statement John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said:

People are being laid off today and losing their incomes. We are disappointed that this package does not address their concerns.

The further announcements laid out by the chancellor lack the certainty required amidst growing public anxiety and still do not go far enough in protecting workers, renters and those who are losing their jobs, or in fully supporting businesses at the scale necessary.

In particular, the chancellor’s claim that new forms of employment support will be developed does not appreciate the urgency and gravity of the situation. Workers and businesses need to know now that they will be supported, not in a few days’ time.

Here are the details of the coronavirus rescue package for businesses announced by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor.

There is plenty here to appeal to people who run businesses. But Sunak had very little to say about measures that will directly help employees. (Workers, of course, benefit if their employers do not go bust, but there are millions of people who face losing pay because they are off sick, or because their hours have been reduced, or who work in the gig economy, who will be looking for more immediate support.) Sunak insisted that an employment support package was on its way, and that he needed to finalise the details first with business and the unions, but the balance of today’s announcement may fuel suspicions that the concerns of owners and managers are taking precedence over the concerns of those on the payroll.

Johnson is winding up now.

He says the more thoroughly people can follow the advice they have been given, the more they will be able to save lives and protect the NHS, and the more quickly they will get through this.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

I will be posting a summary and reaction shortly.

Q: Will you level with people about how bad this will be for the economy? Is a recession inevitable?

Sunak says this will have a significant impact on the economy.

But it will be temporary, he says.

Q: If you close schools, what will you do to help people reliant on free school meals?

Johnson says, as the government comes to this decision, it will have a plan to address this. They want to ensure parents and children get the help they need.

(It sounds from this very much as if it is more a matter of when, not if, schools are closed.)

Q: People are confused what the rules are about staying at home. Can you explain?

Johnson says people are being told to avoid all unnecessary contact where they might get the disease, and to avoid groups, large and small.

Q: You made a joke about a “last gasp” attempt to get ventilators. Is that appropriate?

Johnson says he was referring to the fact that manufacturers only have a few weeks to build more manufacturers.

This question refers to a joke revealed in the London Playbook briefing. Here is the story, which describes the PM’s conference call with manufacturers yesterday.

Some participants came away from the conference call less than impressed with Johnson’s own performance. “He couldn’t help but act the clown, even though he was a on call with serious CEOs from goodness knows how many companies,” one participant told my POLITICO colleague Charlie Cooper. This individual said the PM “joked” that the enterprise to build more life-saving ventilators could be known as “Operation Last Gasp.” Ugh.

Q: What will you do to ensure this £330bn is allocated properly?

Sunak says he is confident this can be delivered properly. There will be a retail compaign, so they hear about the coronavirus business interruption loan.

Q: What will you do about shops? People are still panic buying.

There is no need for that, Johnson says.

Q: What inputs to the model changed that led you to change strategy?

Vallance says the aim is to save the maximum number of lives. He says the proportion of people who make require ventilation looks higher.

But it was not so much the model that changed as the place the UK was judged to be in the epidemic.

Q: What sort of employment support are you looking at? Will the state pay wages?

Sunak says he wants to find a way of helping businesses meet the fixed cost of paying their staff without having to let them go. There are international models available. But he wants something that will work quickly.

Q: People are being laid off today. Would you urge firms to look at these measures first?

Sunak says he hopes this announcement will tell business that help is on its way. He does not want them to lay people off.

Q: People are confused by the advice about schools. You tell people not to mix, but you tell them to take their kids to schools where they will mix. When will you close schools?

Johnson says the position with schools is “under continuous review”.

Q: Many firms facing falling demand. Why is your help in the form of lending when these firms have no way of knowing what the future holds. They may not want to take on more debt? And why not announce today what you will do to ensure people are not penalised for staying away from work?

Johnson says this is an extraordinary package of measures.

One day the economy will bounce back, he says.

Sunak says businesses have fixed costs, on rent and staff. For rent, the government is making cash grants available.

On employees, Sunak says there have been improvements to SSP (statutory sick pay) and ESA (employment and support allowance).

But he wants to develop a bold and ambitious employment support package, he says.

There are options for this. He is working urgently on them with business and the unions.

Q: The Imperial College paper yesterday said these measures could be in place for 18 months, while we look for a vaccine. Is that right?

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, says Imperial College have been working with the government all along. He says the suppression techniques need to be done in such a way that they can be released at some point. But he says no one in the world yet knows how to do this.

He says vaccines are the answer. It used to take 20 years to develop one. Now work on one is starting already. But he says he does not think it will be ready within a year.

Q: You are offering loans. How will people pay them back?

Sunak says the loans are just one aspect of the policy.

He says fiscal policy and monetary policy both play a part. There has been a significant monetary policy response already.

He says this is a very comprehensive and sizeable package of direct fiscal support for businesses, in addition to the loans.

And he says he plans to go further in terms of employment support. He will work with businesses and unions on this.

Q: Do you take responsibility for the advice? And will you take responsibility for your dad?

Johnson says of course he takes responsibility. The more people follow the advice, the more people will be saved.