Firefighters call on chancellor for more support

Firefighters are demanding Rishi Sunak provide them with greater financial backing in his Budget, with a warning that underfunding hit their response to the winter’s floods.

Sunak is set to commit a further £2.6bn to flood defences on Wednesday, which he believes will help protect an additional 336,000 homes in England over the next six years.

But the Fire Brigades Union said that cuts have left services short of resources and manpower the needed to deal with the impact of storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge in Yorkshire, Wales and the Midlands.

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Labour MP self-isolates after recent meeting with Dorries

Rachael Maskell has said she has been advised to “self-isolate” after meeting the junior minister Nadine Dorries (tested posited for coronavirus) last Thursday.

The MP for York Central: “Thankfully I am asymptomatic. It is so important that we all follow all public health advice.”

ECB boss warns of economic shock on par with 2008 crisis

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), has warned the continent faces a major economic shock on a par with the 2008 financial crisis without urgent action to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

She said ECB policy makers would look at all policy tools at their meeting this week, particularly ones to provide “super-cheap” funding, Bloomberg News reported.

In the conference call late on Tuesday, the agency cited a person familiar with her comments as saying, Lagarde warned EU leaders that without coordinated action on the coronavirus outbreak Europe would see a scenario that would remind it of the financial crisis a decade ago.

Lagarde also said that monetary policy measures can only work if governments throw their weight behind them too, according to the report.

No 10 dog to be moved? ‘Total crap’, says PM’s partner  

Boris Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds has responded to reports Dilyn – the Jack Russell adopted by the couple – could be moved in a Downing Street “reshuffle”.

She tweeted: “What a load of total crap! There has never been a happier, healthier and more loved dog than our Dilyn.”

Chancellor sets aside money to fix 50 million potholes

Rishi Sunak will announce £2.5bn to fix up to 50 million potholes in his Budget on Wednesday.

The spending was welcomed by local councils, who said they were mending holes in the road at a rate of one every 17 seconds.

But Labour said the government was offering to “patch up problems they have created” through underfunding of public infrastructure over the past decade.

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Chancellor set to make huge infrastructure investment

Rishi Sunak is to promise to raise public sector infrastructure investment to its highest level in decades during the Budget.

Treasury sources said the spending package would mean net investment rising to three times the average seen over the past 40 years by the end of this parliament in 2024, reaching a peak not seen since 1955, taking inflation into account.

Budget set to deliver billions for Covid-19 response

Chancellor Rishi Sunak today expected to unveil billions of spending in response to the coronavirus crisis, as industry and unions put him under intense pressure to protect businesses and workers from the economic storm unleashed by the disease.

The coronavirus looks set to overshadow a Budget which Boris Johnson had hoped to use as a launchpad for a decade of public sector investment.

Reports this morning suggest the chancellor is ready to announce the underwriting of bank loans to ensure lending to small businesses, as well as a “hardship fund” for firms of up to £1bn.

But industry bodies’ more urgent appeal was for action to get their members through the immediate challenge of a health crisis which is expected to test the viability of many.

The Federation of Small Business called for a statutory sick pay (SSP) rebate for smaller employers and wider access to a government deferred tax payment scheme, as well as a hardship fund for the self-employed who lose contracts or are forced to self-isolate.

Ministers to be tested for coronavirus after Dorries diagnosis

Nadine Dorries, the 62-year-old junior health minister, revealed on Tuesday night she had tested positive after falling ill and self-isolating on Friday.

“Pretty rubbish but I hope I’m over the worst of it now,” she tweeted – adding she was worried about her 84-year-old mother who is staying with her and began coughing on Tuesday.

Dorries is believed to have met hundreds of people in the past week, and on Thursday attended a Downing Street event alongside Boris Johnson.

No 10 did not comment on whether the PM had been tested, but all health department ministers – including secretary of state Matt Hancock – are set to undergo checks.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster.