Wednesday briefing: Rishi Sunak to deliver coronavirus mini-budget

Top story: Unemployment could touch 15%, OECD warns

Hello, Warren Murray here with a midweek statement.

It’s all about what Rishi Sunak will say today, with the chancellor expected to respond to growing fears of a surge in youth unemployment flowing from the coronavirus pandemic with a £2bn temporary job creation scheme for the under-25s. Sunak’s summer statement will detail six-month job placements for an estimated 350,000 18 to 24-year-olds as part of a three-point strategy to support, protect and retain jobs. The chancellor will also announce a £3bn programme to make homes and public buildings more environmentally friendly; and, according to reports, an immediate stamp duty holiday for homes at the lower end of the market. Cuts to VAT are also reportedly under consideration.

The number of unemployed people in Britain could soar to almost 15% of the working population if the country experiences a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the OECD is warning. Otherwise the unemployment rate is likely to rise to 11.7% by the end of the year, the highest level since 1984 when it peaked at 11.9%. The current rate is 3.9%.

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Health risks to women written off – Serious medical complications being dismissed as “women’s problems” contributed to a string of healthcare scandals over several decades, an inquiry ordered by the government has found. The review of vaginal mesh, hormonal pregnancy tests and anti-epilepsy medicine that harmed unborn babies paints a damning picture of a medical establishment that failed to acknowledge problems even in the face of mounting safety concerns, leading to avoidable harm to patients. Instead, women routinely had symptoms attributed to psychological issues or it being “that time of life”. The report’s wide-ranging recommendations include appointing an independent patient safety commissioner, an overhaul of the healthcare products regulatory agency and the expansion of the General Medical Council register to include a list of financial interests for all doctors.

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Clamp for carers – Free parking for NHS staff at hospitals will end, the government has announced, casting further doubt on its priorities in handling the coronavirus crisis. An outcry against the decision is being led by the British Medical Association, which has said it represents a “a rebuff to the immense efforts of staff across the country and the sacrifices they have made to keep others safe”.

Our global coronavirus live blog is covering updates as they transpire: here are some of the latest developments. The WHO has acknowledged new evidence that the coronavirus spreads more widely in the air than it had previously suggested. Doctors may be missing signs of serious and potentially fatal brain disorders triggered by Covid-19, neurologists have warned. Today they publish details of more than 40 UK patients who have suffered complications ranging from brain inflammation and delirium to nerve damage and stroke – in some cases the problem was their first and main symptom. The cases reveal a rise in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (Adem). One woman aged 59 died of the complication.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has pointed to the US in warning against trying to do “everything at the same time” in getting daily life back to normal. “We see that in many states in America right now, a spiralling out of control. We mess with this virus at our peril.” The Trump administration has notified the WHO it will cancel its membership from May 2021 – a decision Joe Biden says he will reverse if he wins this November’s election. President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, perhaps the world’s foremost naysayer regarding the seriousness of the Covid-19 pandemic, has confirmed his own illness with the virus.

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‘Return or kill yourself’ – China is blackmailing dissenters in the US to come home and hand themselves in by using threats against family members and other means, the FBI chief says. The covert campaign is known as Operation Fox Hunt. Christopher Wray said in a speech that Beijing’s counterintelligence work poses the “greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and intellectual property and to our economic vitality”. He said Fox Hunt began ostensibly as a campaign to bring to justice corrupt officials and business executives who had fled overseas, but had turned into a sinister programme to suppress dissent and criticism of President Xi Jinping among the Chinese diaspora. In a story from Europe that has parallels: Chechens in Europe have expressed renewed fears for their safety after a critic of the Kremlin-backed Chechnya leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, was shot dead in Vienna. It was the fourth violent attack on Chechens living inside the EU in the past year, three of which ended in murder.

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Midweek catch-up

> Twins born in London who have never left the UK are facing deportation to different countries, Dominica and Granada, to which they have no connection. Darrell and Darren Roberts were taken into care at age 13 and relatives say social services should have organised for them to receive citizenship – instead they are being ordered to leave after receiving convictions and being told they have no legal status to stay.

> Donald Trump had someone else sit exams to get him into business school and grew up under “sociopath” parenting to become a figure whose outrageous behaviour “threaten the world’s health, economic security and social fabric”, his niece has written in a bombshell book.

> Pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong say they have no choice but to continue their fight after China imposed laws on the city that could be used to target any of their activities. A protest anthem has been banned in schools as a national security office is opened to enforce the sweeping crackdown on freedoms.

> A prisoner in Samoa served five years too many because his sentences were recorded as running consecutively when they should have been simultaneous. A judge spotted the error when he appeared in court on another matter.

Today in Focus podcast: Are police failing BAME communities?

Bas Javid joined the Avon and Somerset police in 1993. Last year he became a commander at the Met. He reflects on his experiences as a BAME officer and discusses the use of stop and search, which has been cited as a continued source of tension between the force and communities. Ben Bowling, a professor of criminology and criminal justice, examines the history of police race relations.

Lunchtime read: David Tennant just played himself

The actor returns this week in parenting comedy There She Goes. He discusses the boundary between art and reality, the impact of Covid-19 on the arts – and the future of Labour.

Sport

In the Premier League, Chelsea moved into third place after they came out on top of a five-goal thriller away to Crystal Palace, while Leicester could only manage a point away to Arsenal, courtesy of a late Jamie Vardy strike. The Gunners were headed for victory before Eddie Nketiah’s red card, prompting Mikel Arteta to demand his side learn from its mistakes. At the other end of the table a Danny Welbeck stunner helped Watford to three valuable points at the expense of fellow relegation battlers Norwich City. In cricket, the first Test of the English summer is about to begin. And for the first time since 2012 a Test on English soil may not feature Stuart Broad. Finally, British Gymnastics has announced an independent inquiry into allegations of serious physical and emotional abuse made by multiple elite athletes.

Business

Thousands more UK workers involved in making Jaguar Land Rover vehicles are set to lose their jobs, despite the car industry returning to production after coronavirus shutdowns. Logistics firm DHL says 2,200 staff, around 40% of those currently employed on its JLR contract, will be laid off. The FTSE100 is poised to shed 0.5% this morning. The pound is up at $1.255 and €1.113.

The papers

Shake any of the papers by its corner today and a story mentioning Rishi Sunak will probably fall out, as coverage of his mini-budget achieves maxi proportions. Our Guardian front page says “Sunak stakes £2bn on job creation plan for the under-25s”. The Times’ version is “£2bn jobs fund to help young beat virus crisis”. The FT goes for a similar angle, saying the scheme will help “arrest blight on Covid generation”.

The Telegraph heralds Sunak’s statement with “Stamp Duty holiday to kickstart economy”, confirming a line much leaked a day ago. The Mail has “Generation of women betrayed”, which concerns medical scandals including the harm done by faulty vaginal mesh. The i splashes on “Free parking for NHS staff to be scrapped” – watch that story today. The Express alerts us that “Statins DO help you live longer”, saying that for over-75s the heart drugs cut risk of death by a quarter.

As far as front-page pictures go, in most places it’s a masked Johnny Depp, Amber Heard or both after his libel trial against the Sun’s owners commenced. A few make it their lead story too with headlines worthy of the National Enquirer: “Shock Depp claims – Amber cut off my fingertip” says the Mirror. “Amber’s potty” is the Metro’s choice, over claims that Heard left something of a mess in their bed.

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