This week Boris Johnson is expected to announce an end to the national lockdown. However, with a return to normal still far away with the UK to move back into a stricter form of the three tier system, good news remains limited for the time being. That’s also the case with the Chancellor’s spending review. When Rishi Sunak gets up at the despatch box on Wednesday to announce his funding decisions, there will be hints of the difficult decisions he and Johnson face in the coming months and years as a result of coronavirus spending.
Sunak and Johnson must decide whether to implement tax rises in this parliament, or fight the next election not being able to rule out ‘hard choices’.
The initial hope in government had been for a comprehensive spending review spanning several years that would focus on delivering Johnson’s election agenda. But uncertainty over coronavirus means funding for most departments has been limited to a year.
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