Coronavirus (COVID-19)—impact of pandemic, Brexit and proposed policy response

Article summary

The Institute for Government (the Institute) has published a paper outlining the economic impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) combined with Brexit disruption, and has set out proposed policy changes which would restrict access to coronavirus support schemes solely to businesses affected by the pandemic, rather than businesses adjusting to Brexit changes. In the paper, the Institute suggests that the chancellor should design alternative support packages to help businesses with Brexit disruption and allow those businesses access to the existing coronavirus schemes on a case-by-case basis only. At least 69% of the economy is predicted to be ‘badly affected’ by either Brexit or the pandemic, thus economic restructuring is said to be necessary to avoid long-term economic damage.