Britain is about to be hit by an unprecedented economic storm.
The consequences of coronavirus could see hundreds of firms go to the wall and the jobless total reach four million.
There are real fears that even more households could be pushed into poverty and a generation of young people left on the dole.
The Government must do everything it can to prevent this second Great Depression.
It cannot repeat the mistakes of David Cameron and George Osborne, who handed out tax cuts to the rich while punishing the poor with welfare cuts and austerity.
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, must invest in jobs, training and infrastructure.
Frontline workers who have served their country with such dedication in the past months deserve a real pay rise and real job security
A proper safety net must be put in place for those who have lost work. Families on the breadline must be given urgent support.
The Government was slow to act when confronted by the Covid-19 crisis.
It cannot be slow to act in the face of this economic crisis.
Blighting lives
Th tearing down of the statue of Edward Colston was a landmark moment.
There should be no place for memorials to slave traders in modern Britain.
Some campaigners are now turning their attention to other monuments commemorating controversial figures, such as the founder of the Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell.
However the removal of any statue is best decided democratically at a local level.
And the focus of our energies should be tackling the inequality, racism and discrimination that still blights too many lives.
