UK finance minister weighs delaying autumn budget on 2nd COVID-19 wave: FT
- While Sunak expects to deliver his budget as planned, it is a sign of government anxiety over a possible autumn COVID-19 spike that he is ready to delay big public spending decisions until after the crisis, the FT said.
British finance minister Rishi Sunak is weighing options to shelve his autumn budget if Britain is hit by a big second wave of the coronavirus, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
While Sunak expects to deliver his budget as planned, it is a sign of government anxiety over a possible autumn COVID-19 spike that he is ready to delay big public spending decisions until after the crisis, the FT said.
Britain risks a second wave of COVID-19 in the winter twice as large as the initial outbreak if it reopens schools full-time without improving its test-and-trace system, according to a study published last week.
The government wants all pupils to return to school by early September, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling this a national priority.
In the event the budget is postponed — probably until spring 2021 — Sunak would be expected to produce a “mini-spending review” in the autumn, allocating spending to departments for just a single year, the FT said.
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