Until a few weeks ago, the Treasury was toying with the idea of a fiscal event in July that some were calling an emergency budget. Britain would be moving from phase one of the outbreak, crisis management, to phase two, the start of the recovery, and the new circumstances would need a fresh set of policies.
Then the language began to change. The word “budget” was replaced with “moment” and ambitions were downgraded alongside the vocabulary. What is clear is that preparations are being made for phase two and they are being built around three core concepts: supporting business; supporting labour markets; and supporting consumption.
The planning assumption is that the country is through the worst of the health crisis and the economy needs to
