The 2020/21 budget for Test and Trace in England is £22 billion, about £4 billion was spent by the end of October 2020. Where has at gone and was it a success?
Today Rishi Sunak has indicated he will extend emergency support packages as the coronavirus lockdown is unwound, and did not rule out first raising taxes before cutting them ahead of the next election.
The Chancellor insisted ahead of Wednesday’s Budget that he is in favour of low taxes but said he needs to repair the public finances from the “enormous shock” of the pandemic with an “honest and fair” plan.
He said he does not “recognise” suggestions he told MPs in private that he would raise taxes now before cutting them in a pre-election Budget and said it would be “brave” to predict the situation in three years’ time.
But he declined to rule out the possible plan, leading to Labour accusing him of “playing politics with the recovery”.
Mr Sunak said he must “level with people”, with Covid having had an “enormous hold on our economy” that will cause debt to “rise indefinitely” if borrowing continues after the recovery.
Sunak told Andrew Marr, this morning, that “people elected us because they trust us with their money.”
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Related: Watch: Sunak rejects study that claims Eat Out to Help Out scheme increased Covid infections
