Rishi Sunak has cancelled his upcoming budget after a surge in new coronavirus cases forced the government to bring in fresh restrictions likely lasting six months, placing the chancellor under intense pressure to provide financial help to affected businesses and individuals.
As Mr Sunak prepares to lay out new support on Thursday, Boris Johnson has been accused of leading the UK into “another winter of discontent” amid fears of mass unemployment and a failing coronavirus testing system.
It came as Michael Gove revealed that police will patrol the Kent border to turn away lorries without an “access permit” in a bid to ease Brexit border chaos. The Cabinet minister confirmed a leaked letter that said the government predicted a no-deal worst case scenario of 7,000-truck-long queues with up to two days of delays.
This live blog is no longer being updated. Read our coverage as it happened below:
