you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh — the headlines... the bank of england announces an emergency cut in interest rates to shore up the economy, citing the threat from coronavirus. the bank also says it will free up billions of pounds of extra lending power to help support businesses. and the governnor of the bank of england is expected to hold a news conference shortly — we'll go to that live. good morning, everyone. the front lines of combating the challenges of covid—19 comprises the extraordinary effo rts covid—19 comprises the extraordinary efforts of nhs professionals, carers, public health officials and volu nteers carers, public health officials and volu nteers gci’oss carers, public health officials and volunteers across the country as

well as the exceptional efforts of the fco to help uk citizens abroad. the bank of england's role is to help uk businesses and households manage through an economic shock that could prove large and sharp, but should be temporary. that is why the bank is announcing today a comprehensive and timely package of measures to help uk households and businesses bridge across the economic disruption caused by covid—19. these measures will help keep firms in business and people in jobs and they will prevent a temporary disruption from causing longer lasting economic harm. maximising the effectiveness of our response requires coordination across all the bank's policy committees. that is why all policy committees. that is why all policy committees are simultaneously acting today, maximising the effectiveness of our response requires working in concert with her majesty's treasury.

that is why were acting on budget day, when the chancellor will announce a series of government initiatives to support uk households and businesses. and maximising the effectiveness of our response requires continuity over time. that is why the next governor, andrew bailey, participated in all our policy meetings and is joining bailey, participated in all our policy meetings and isjoining me this morning to help explain our approach. i would this morning to help explain our approach. iwould note this morning to help explain our approach. i would note that all the decisions of the policy committees we re decisions of the policy committees were unanimous. following the spread of covid—19, risky assets and commodity prices have fallen sharply in government bond yields have reached all—time lows consistent with a deterioration in risk appetite and in the outlooks for uk and global growth. indicators of financial market uncertainty have reached extreme levels. although the magnitude of the economic shock from coronavirus is highly uncertain, activity is likely to weaken materially in the uk over the coming

months. temporary but significant disruptions to supply chains and wea ker disruptions to supply chains and weaker activity could challenge cash flows a nd weaker activity could challenge cash flows and increase the demand for short—term credit from households and for working capital from companies. such issues are likely to be most acute for smaller businesses. this economic shock will affect both demand and supply in the economy. that is why we are acting today. the mpc is reducing the bank rate by 0.5% to 0.25%. this action will help support net cash flows during a period in which economic activity is likely to be disrupted. the reduction in bank rate will help to support confidence at a difficult time to bolster the cash flows of businesses and households and to reduce the cost and improve the availability of finance. when interest rates are low, it can be difficult for some banks and building societies to reduce deposit rates much further, which in turn

could limit their ability to cut their lending rates. to mitigate these pressures and to maximise the effectiveness of monetary policy, the mpc is launching a new term funding scheme with additional incentives for lending to small and medium—sized enterprises, so—called tsfme. the tsfme will provide four—year funding for banks and building societies of at least 5% of real economy lending at interest rates close to the bank rate. additionalfunding will rates close to the bank rate. additional funding will be available for firms that increase lending, especially to small and medium—sized enterprises. overall, the facility could provide in excess of £100 million in term funding. the tsfme will help reinforce the transmission of the reduction in bank rate to the real economy to ensure that households and businesses benefit from the mpc‘s action to stop it

will provide participants with cost—effective source of funding to support additional lending to the real economy, providing an insurance against adverse conditions in bank funding markets. it will incentivise banks to provide credit to businesses and households to bridge through a period of economic disruption and it will provide additional incentives for banks to support lending to smes, companies that typically bear the brunt of contractions in the supply of credit during periods of heightened risk aversion and economic downturns. let me pass to andrew to explain the actions of the fpc and prc in his current capacity as a member of both committees. thank you. in order to further support the ability of banks to supply credit needed to bridge this potentially challenging period, the financial policy committee has reduced the uk cyclical buffer rate

to 0% of banks' exposures to uk borrowers with immediate effect. the rate had been at 1% and had been due to reach 2% by december this year. the fpc expects to maintain this zero rate for at least 12 months so that any subsequent increase would not take effect until march 2022 at the earliest because of the notice period that needs to be given on any decision. given the resilience of the core banking system, businesses and households should be able to rely on banks to meet their need for credit to bridge through a period of economic disruption. although the disruption from covid—19 could be sharp and large, it should be temporary. such disruption to the economy should have lower impact on the core banking system than the re ce nt the core banking system than the recent stress tests run by the bank of england have shown the system can withstand. those stress tests demonstrated that banks would be able to continue to lend to households and businesses even while

absorbing the effects of substantial and a prolonged economic downturn in both the uk and the global economy as well as falls in asset prices much larger than experienced in re ce nt much larger than experienced in recent weeks. the release of the countercyclical capital buffer will support up to £190 billion of bank lending to businesses. that is equivalent to 13 times banks' net lending to businesses in 2019. so together with the new term funding scheme, this means that banks should not face obstacles to supplying credit to the uk economy. the fpc will continue to monitor closely the response of banks to these measures and the credit conditions faced by uk households and businesses more generally. turning to the prudential regulation committee, the release of the countercyclical buffer also reinforces the expectation of the fpc and the prc that all elements of banks' capital and liquidity buffers can be drawn down is necessary to support the economy. in addition, the pra has today set out its

expectation that banks should not increase dividends or other distributions such as bonuses in response to these policy actions. the bank supervisory teams have increased the frequency of reporting and supervisory engagement with all firms. this includes reviewing business continuity plans that firms have put in place to manage operational risks resulting from the outbreak of the virus. major uk banks are well able to withstand severe market disruption. they held £1 trillion of high quality liquid assets, enabling them to meet obligations for many months. in response to the material fall in government bond yields in recent weeks, the prc invites requests by insurance companies to use the flexibility in the solvency two regulations to recalculate the transitional measures that smooth the impact of those regulations. this will also support market functioning. let meehan back to mark. let me mention one of the

support we have in place, which is that the bank of england does have operations in place to make loans in all major currencies on a weekly basis. commercial banks have already prepositioned enough collateral with the bank of england to allow them to borrow £300 billion through these facilities. now i will conclude. the bank of england's actions today comprise a timely and powerful package to support uk businesses and households to bridge a temporarily difficult period and to mitigate any longer lasting effects on jobs, growth and the uk economy. the bank is coordinating its actions with those that the chancellor will announce later today in the budget to ensure that our initiatives are complementary and that they were collectively have maximum impact consistent with our independent responsibilities. the bank will also continue to coordinate closely with

our international counterparts. the bank will take all necessary further steps to support the uk economy and financial system consistent with its statutory responsibilities. some watching will recall a financial crisis a little more than a decade ago. then, the financial system was the core of the problem. now it can be part of the solution. over the past decade, the uk financial system has been transformed. but we didn't build the strength for its own sake. this is prudence with a purpose. it is resilience with a reason, and that reason is to fulfil the bank of england's mission, namely to promote the good of the people of the united kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability. by acting today, the bank is ensuring that the strength of our financial system can be directed to where it is most neededin be directed to where it is most needed in the months ahead. with that, and you and i would be pleased to ta ke that, and you and i would be pleased to take your questions. please wait

for the microphones and one question ata time, for the microphones and one question at a time, please. sky news. what evidence do you have so far? what evidence do you have so far? what evidence do you have or are you working in the dark? and is 0.25% as low as you will go? i will answer the second part first. the answer is no. the mpc can go below that to slightly above 0%, so there is additional conventional room for the committee. there is additional room in order committees' instruments if it were to choose that. in terms of evidence, it is early days and it is uncertain. the direction is clear. the orders of magnitude are less

clear. but we do have evidence from other economies. we have obviously seen what has happened in the chinese economy, swinging from north of 5% growth to a likely contraction in the first quarter. we have the very early signs in global pmis across a range of economies of a similar shift. not of the same order of magnitude, but directionally moving there. we have anecdotal evidence that we are building up through our agency network and our contacts with businesses where we have seen a sharp fall in trading conditions, particularly in retail, consumer discretionary items over the course of the last week, almost speaking in real time. but even

prior to that, we were beginning to see supply chain disruptions in the manufacturing sector. so i would emphasise that the direction is clear. orders of magnitude have still to be determined. but what is also clear to all of the committees is that this is a situation that should prove temporary, and part of ourjobis should prove temporary, and part of ourjob is to make sure that the economic impacts are temporary so that we are taking the steps to bridge from where we are today to where we should be when this passes. given what you just said, if the economic situation deteriorates further in the next couple of weeks, do you imagine that the bank of england may have to act again in the march meeting? and my second question is, while its quantitative

easing or asset purchases not included as part of today's broad announcement of measures, and would you consider oe is an important part of the toolkit? i will start again with the second question and comment on the first and then pass to andrew on the first and then pass to andrew on the first if he wishes. in terms of oe and asset purchases, very much pa rt of oe and asset purchases, very much part of the bank's toolkit, i testified, as did you only last week, to parliament about monetary policy space that we have and i gave my view that asset purchases can be an important component of providing additional firepower for the mpc if needed. why not now? this is a big package. i recognise that often, the focus is on interest rates. it is the easiest to understand and the

conventional policy instrument, but shifting a countercyclical buffer that was en route to being 2% to zero releases a huge amount of lending capacity. andrew underscored this in his remarks. it isjust under 200 billion of corporate credit lending capacity, exactly the type of drawdowns that would be required in this type of situation and the capacity is 13 times the lending to the corporate sector last year. so that is a big number. on top of that, not liquidity, but term funding clarity across the banking and building society. so it is a big package. in terms of forward—looking, i would

package. in terms of forward—looking, iwould note package. in terms of forward—looking, i would note the statement that the bank will take all necessary further actions. let's get some response to what the governor of the bank of finland has been announcing. we will get a timely and powerful package of —— the bank of england. joining me in the studio is martin weale, professor of economics at king's business school and a former member of the bank of england monetary policy committee and our business editor dominic o connell. martin, are you surprised by the size of this cut, 0.5% from 0.75% to 0.25%? for me, the most important point is the point that the governor just made, that the interest rate cut is only part of the package. the situation that could arise would be that businesses need credit because they can't sell what they produce. i

think at least as important as the other component of the package that releases an enormous amount of credit and provides an incentive to banks to lend where necessary. so the interest rate cut might be the headline grabber but there was a lot of other detail in there as well. when mark carney said this is to help keep firms in business and people injobs, dominate, explain to us how what the bank has announced this morning will help to do that. martin is right, not many fans were complaining about the cost of loans. the interest rates are at a near low and they will go to an absolute low on the back of this cut. but two things are important. the first is a method to ince ntivise things are important. the first is a method to incentivise banks to lend to small businesses to pass on loans at the absolute low rate of 0.25% said that banks can lend at a very cheap rate to their small business clients. the other thing is reversal of what has been a build—up of

financial reserves, the so—called counter cyclical buffers. these are worth £190 billion. the banks will now be allowed to lend those funds that have been stored for bad times. these are the bad times. but how can you guarantee that the banks will pass those on in the real world? it isa pass those on in the real world? it is a helicopter view of the financial system. how do you influence those individual bank managers to show the forbearance that mark carney and the rest of the monetary policy committee would like them to show? some banks are already suggesting that they are going to do this and allow customers, when they are business customers or personal account customers, some leeway during this crisis. i think they will inevitably have to. as the governor said, we expect that the major disruption and things will return to something much more normal. and in those circumstances,

to put businesses out of business because of temporary interruption in cash flow would not be good for the banks either. and detrimental in the longer term. this seems like a big package of measures, but mark carney is saying that for the necessary steps would be taken by the bank. what could those include? as he mentioned, they could include quantitative easing. there is obviously a debate about how effective this is. my own work in the area suggested that it was quite effective, much more effective than i had thought. things may be different now, but most of the evidence is that quantitative easing does work to the extent that we are worried about businesses not being able to obtain the credit they need. the bank of england may have to innovate further. dominic, for anyone who wasn't clear what quantitative easing means, explain for us. it's another way of

stimulating the economy and stimulating the economy and stimulating bank to do more in the real economy. the bank of england goes out and buys government debt and take some of the banks so that banks have money to to businesses. martin said it has proved effective. there is a wide range of opinions on how effective it has been. a lot of people also don't like the idea that we seem to be relying on central banks to answer every economic problem. there is a funny tweet which was shared over the weekend saying that in 2 billion years' time, when the sun is likely to explode, as the federal bank is interest rates to take account of this? the idea that central banks can fix anything seems to be the new accepted wisdom in economics. let's talk more about timing, martin. we have been discussing timing in terms of the government response and whether it moves from the containment face to the delay phase in coronavirus. what do you make of the timing of this bank of england unanimous decision, as mark carney

pointed out, too soon orjust about right? it was probably timed to coincide with the budget. we will wait to hear this afternoon what other measures the government is taking. but my guess is that it was that rather than the possibility of a move from containment to delay that dictated the timing of today's announcement. and to come back to those interest rates, mr carney said they could go lower. he said in conventional policy, they would not go negative tomorrow. go negative tomorrow conventional policy, they would not go negative tomorrow there's a meeting at the european central bank, which does have negative interest rates, a hot to get your head around. the idea is that it is paying for the privilege of making a deposit. that means it pushes banks out to lend to businesses rather than leave their money with the european central bank. could negative interest rates ever come to the uk? mark carney were saying not,

but he did say those were the limits of conventional policy. there might be some unconventional policy to come. good to get your thoughts on that announcement this morning. dominic o'connell, a business presenter, and martin weale, professor of economics and former member of the bank of england's monetary policy committee, thank you very much. we will be getting some small reaction to all of this a little later. let's go to westminster for what this all means for today's budget. our assistant political editor norman smith is there. the budget is going to be dominated by coronavirus. when you take that into account alongside this announcement from the bank of england, what can we expect from rishi sunak? i think it is clear that this is going to be a coronavirus budget and the bank of england's decision confirms that. we heard mark carney saying they are going to take this rate cut because

it will work in conjunction with measures to be announced by the chancellor. the sort of areas we know he will look at, he has already talked about giving the nhs whatever it needs to get through the crisis. they can expect a big temporary cash injection. but a lot of attention will focus on what support there is for small and medium—sized businesses to tide them through. the sort of things that have been mooted are maybe business rates holidays. you might get temporary grants or loa ns, you might get temporary grants or loans, tax breaks, all those sorts of things to give smaller businesses a bit ofa of things to give smaller businesses a bit of a breather as demand presumably drops off and there is also difficult difficulty getting supplies in and carrying on with our own business as people may be self—isolate and don't turn up for work. the other area where we might see some policies from rishi sunak is in terms of sick pay. a lot of political heat on the government at

the moment of the fact that around 2 million people are simply not eligible for sick pay because they are below the earning threshold. several million more can't claim it because they are self—employed or work in the gig economy. so what happens to them? yesterday we got a bit of a hint from the health secretary that there will be measures to ensure that they can do the right thing, self—isolate and stay away from work if they have the symptoms. i think there will be a big package of measures on coronavirus which i suspect is what will dominate the coverage of this budget. speaking of staying away from work if you have coronavirus, talk to us about nadine dorries. she was in contact with the prime minister and other members of government before she tested positive for the virus. what impact might this have on the workings of government and presumably the prime minister and others are also being tested ?

minister and others are also being tested? i understand they are not being tested at the moment. but yes, nadine dorries, a health minister, has daily contact with matt hancock and other health ministers and health officials, people in parliament. rachael maskell, the labour said parliament. rachael maskell, the laboursaid mp, she parliament. rachael maskell, the labour said mp, she was self—isolating. she had a meeting with nadine dorries. but the most high profile event she was at was here in downing street on thursday evening after she had begun to develop symptoms at a reception held by the prime ministerfor international women's day. at that event would be a catalyst of the most prominent women in —— a cast list of the most prominent women in business, sport and politics. among those we know who attended our liz truss, anne marie trevelyan, the international development secretary. i assume priti patel, the most powerful woman in government, would probably be there. kelly holmes was

there. so there has to be concern about whether any of them might have contracted the virus. we don't know, but it has to be a concern. the other area where we are to be moving is in terms of what happens in parliament. the parliamentary authorities are meeting this morning to decide what steps they should take. there is a basic view in government that they do not want to suspend government because of the message that they would send. but you could limit public access to westminster. you could also discourage curb mps from going on foreign trips. so there are measures that can be taken short of putting a closed sign up outside parliament. norman smith in downing street. let's show you a tweet from rachael maskell, mp, who says nhs111 has

advised that she self—isolate as a result of a meeting she had with nadine dorries. iam sure i am sure we will be hearing more about what is happening with other members of government who had contact with nadine dorries before she tested positive. let's return to the focus on the economy in relation to coronavirus. we can speak to adam marshall, he's the director general of the british chambers of commerce. let's begin with those emergency measures announced by the bank of

england. how helpful will they be?|j think england. how helpful will they be?” think businesses will welcome the fa ct think businesses will welcome the fact that the bank of england has made some decisive decisions for the economy at a delicate moment when there is uncertainty for a lot of businesses. what will be important over the coming days and weeks is making sure that those decisions filter down to the real economy. the governor talked a lot about making sure that businesses and consumers get the benefit of those measures. we have to be sure that that happens because so many businesses are going to have difficulties or disruptions to have difficulties or disruptions to their cash flow. on those businesses and consumers getting the benefit of this bank of england decision, do you really envisage a situation where banks, with the coronavirus outbreak, are not going to pass on those benefits? we do expect them to do so and we are working with financial institutions

across the country to make sure that as many businesses as possible have the support and the forbearance that they may need at a difficult time. it is of course early days in all of this. we have a lot of anecdotal evidence at this stage of impact on business, but there may be others to come. and as companies approach things like renewal of an overdraft, for example, or a credit line or some other important financial decision, it's important that the banks and other lenders help them and make sure the benefits of the bank of england's decisions actually flow through. adam marshall, director general of the british chambers of commerce, thank you. let's just regroup now on what mark carney had to say this morning, the governor of the bank of england, about that surprise interest rate cut to 0.25%. the bank of england's role is to

help uk businesses and households manage through an economic shock that could prove large and sharp, but should be temporary. it's why the bank is announcing today a comprehensive and timely package of measures to help uk households and businesses bridge across the economic disruption caused by covid-19. these measures will help keep firms and business and people in jobs and they will prevent a temporary disruption from causing longer lasting economic harm. joining me in the studio is gemma tetlow, chief economist for the institute for government. talking today about the budget but let's begin with the breaking news this morning from the bank of england. what do you think of these packets announced, will it benefit the way mark carney hopes it will, businesses and individuals as they try to navigate whatever may happen

with the coronavirus outbreak? —— these packages. it has been increasingly clear this is a day to think about how does government broadly defined support for the economy through the shock of corona and it is quite significant. we have seen the bank of england move with policy action on the same day we are expecting to see fiscal policy action announced. monetary policy is limited in what it can do because interest rates are already so low and ina interest rates are already so low and in a sense, the particular type of economic shock we have got from coronavirus where people are being told to stay at, stay away from the places they would normally spend money means that normal transmission mechanism for cutting the interest rate, which makes people feel rich and puts more money in their pockets make them spending money may not work well. more significant from mark carney today was the announcement and add extra borrowing capacity for businesses to help them through the next few weeks. our guest a few minutes ago absolutely agreed with it was more significance than the interest rate cut. in terms

of the budget, how do you think it will be affected given what the government's promises were back in its election manifesto? how fundamentally affected is it going to be by coronavirus and the need to respond to that? we should really see today's budget announcements in two parts. one part is trying to look through the coronavirus impact to see what is today's budget tell us about the long—term fiscal policy objectives, how much are they willing to borrow more than the previous government was? a lot of the attention today will really be on the short—term measures, what is this budget are saying about how the government will transport the economy short term in the coronavirus hit? given there are limits to monetary policy, it will be important to see what the government does in fiscal policy in supporting some of those groups who may be most severely affected, businesses that see many of their workers having to self—isolate, for example and perhaps the self—employed who have less to fall

back on. the government have talked about ensuring revenue being sufficient so it could pay for day—to—day spending in three years time. how can it assess whether the shock, the economic shock, from coronavirus and we don't know when that will finish, but that doesn't throw that off course? or will the chancellor perhaps say we just can't stick to those targets? the fiscal rules that were outlined in the conservative manifesto said balance the current budget within three yea rs. the current budget within three years. that three year time horizon was there precisely to allow the garment to respond to short—term shocks. not to have to pull that support immediately —— allow the government. to give them some three yea rs government. to give them some three years to get back to balance. entirely manageable you think? potentially but is three years long enough for this temporary impact of coronavirus to pass through the economy? that is an epidemiological question as well as economic question. the spanish flu pattern happened a century ago, it came back

in three subsequent winters suggesting three years may not be long enough for all of that temporary shock move through the economy. we will see economic and fiscal forecast from the office of economic stability that were produced and shut down before the impact of coronavirus became apparent. we will see some official forecasts for the path of borrowing that don't account for that. it's a work in progress. ouickly, we might talk about things in normal times without a virus at bay, what key tax announcements would we see today? is this going to be a green budget? given the government's commitment to cutting its carbon footprint and the fa ct cutting its carbon footprint and the fact that it's hosting, glasgow was hosting the huge un climate conference later this year? there has been a lot of toing and froing about tax policies in this budget. we are expecting to see concrete things that were in the manifesto,

increasing the threshold for paying national insurance contributions and cancelling the planned cut in corporation tax that was going to happen this april. we may well not see much on other policies. instead, we may see some reviews announced for longer term changes. on the green tax side, that will be very interesting to watch. there is a question about whether the government chooses to go ahead with increasing inflation on fuel. there is lots of pressure on them not to do that and we haven't had one of those increases at the past decade. it will give a sense of whether this government is able to persuade the public that they need to pay more for things like driving their cars. and if they are not able to push through is of those measures, how do we get to net zero given the changes in people's own lifestyle is required to do that. good to hear from you this morning. and we'll be answering your questions about what the budget means to you and your family here on bbc news at 8.30pm tonight. here on bbc news at 8.30am tonight.

email your questions on yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet us with the hashtag #yourouestionsanswered. those flown back to the uk will now self—isolate for two weeks and they will be doing that, going through that period of self isolation as soon as. . . that period of self isolation as soon as... they get home. we are seeing some of these are drive—through testing measures for coronavirus. let's speak to doctor catherine o reilly, medical director at the world's largest medical and travel security firm which focuses

on helping organisations reduce exposure to risks while travelling abroad. good to have you here today. we had talked about how the uk will manage the economic risks posed by coronavirus, let's talk about travel and health risks. give us your assessment about how the government has been risked managing this situation so far. there has been some criticism it should be moving faster with more restrictive measures. thank you, good morning. it isa measures. thank you, good morning. it is a rapidly evolving situation and we have been monitoring this since the 31st of december when the first cases of pneumonia were reported in china. governments have been putting in place measures both travel and other restrictions. what is interesting is that we are seeing... we saw the explosion of cases in china and we had seen it move elsewhere and we now have a

large number of cases in italy. and the measures governments are putting in place as the situation evolves. at this time, we have had many travel restrictions, lots of airlines have been very proactive right from the beginning and the government have also put measures in place. let's not forget, they are taking advice from a number of different sources and trying to make, you know, the best guesses in a situation where we don't have all the answers and there is a lot of unknowns. we took to a neurologist yesterday who cautioned about the government taking the measures it had. he said they should be doing more and not let the numbers get ahead of us. you have been talking about individual airlines and carriers making decisions. lots of questions around the testing programme, people coming in from italy and other places. should there be more widespread testing at the moment, do you think, to try to,

well, to try to stop going into the delay phase but certainly to delay the spread of this virus?” delay phase but certainly to delay the spread of this virus? i think it's coming and i think the government have a plan as to when they will implement it. there are more cases now in the uk and it is more cases now in the uk and it is more widespread. all areas are affected. how will they implement this is not completely clear at the moment but it is definitely something that is coming and we can expect more of this. looking at community transmission, one topic spoken about a lot at the moment is ca re spoken about a lot at the moment is care for elderly people, people who may have health conditions which make them more vulnerable potentially to this virus. ouestions about if you have home care workers, home helpers who might be at risk of contracting it, moving around different homes, dealing with different homes, dealing with different people. how do you manage that sort of risk? this is one of the most difficult areas we

recognise already in this outbreak. the elderly and the high—risk population and they are more susceptible severe disease. it is how to keep them isolated and protected and care workers in particular being a mobile workforce, it is very difficult for them to put in measures, especially when they are expected and people rely on their support. our nursing homes it's about identifying key services, taking away services that aren't required. isolating people, being very clear on communication and education and that is a key part, making sure people understand hygiene measures, what they need to do, personal protective equipment, having it available and in place and making sure that people know how to use it and how to protect themselves and others from spreading the virus.

doctor catherine o'reilly, medical director of sos, thank you for your time. and tomorrow we're running a special day of coverage answering your questions on coronavirus. we will be answering your question about coronavirus. how long do symptoms last? why is mask wearing actively discouraged? if you touch a service that someone else who has the virus on their skin, you could pick it up. i am travelling to london and packed trains, should we still travel this way? until we london and packed trains, should we still travelthis way? untilwe have an outbreak in the uk, there is no major risk of going on the train. your questions answered, all day tomorrow on the bbc news channel. hello this is bbc news with me annita mcveigh. the headlines:

the bank of england announces an emergency cut in interest rates to shore up the economy, citing the threat from coronavirus. the bank also says it will free up billions of pounds of extra lending power to help support businesses. the bank's move comes as the new chancellor, rishi sunak, prepares to deliver his first budget. he's expected to announce support for the nhs and a big spending boost for infrastructure. health minister nadine dorries becomes the first mp to test postive with the virus, health officials are racing to see whether other members of the government have been infected, after she attended a recent downing street reception. and the nhs will ramp up testing for covid—19 after a sixth person dies from the virus in the uk. 382 people are now known to have it. much more now on the economic impact of the coronavirus — we've already heard this morning

of that interest rate cut by half of one percentage point to 0.25%. and at 12:30 rishi sunak will stand up and give his first budget. so what are small businesses expecting from the chancellor? particularly to tide them over the period of uncertainty in the coming weeks because of coronavirus? our correspondent phil mackie is in birmingham. with people representing small businesses to tell us more. we have the budget to talk about and the emergency measures from the bank of england too. it's all happening. out in the real world, things are carrying on much as they normally would but everyone has an eye on the budget. this is the kind of small industrial estate with lots of small businesses working, notjust listening to what economic measures come through that what emergency measures are in place for the

coronavirus. this company make multiple child seats and they have some in the back of this many. we will go next door, this is a company that makes macaroons. let's show you the kitchens, we can't go all the way in there but if the cameraman goes through there, you can see the products and jenny has been making them this morning. they have a shop in the centre of birmingham but their big client base is corporate clients. i have alice stampings, marketing manager. coronavirus is having a big impact on you at the moment. it is. we are the only patisserie in the world who can match exactly to corporate colours. all of our corporate events are being cancelled because of coronavirus, we are losing a huge amount of sales and we have lost over £4000 in the last seven days due to coronavirus. it has been a massive loss. you are a small business, ten people in all? yes. we

are experiencing really big losses at the moment. what are the things you have within your company as you try to... a lot of your employees have been long—term unemployed, you look out for people and try to encourage them back into the workplace. but the danger is that you might have to start laying people off or are you hoping there will be some help from the chancellor? we are really hoping we can geta chancellor? we are really hoping we can get a payment holiday on our business rates and store so we won't have to close it. that we will get help with sick pay for all of our employees if they have to go off work because of coronavirus. that is what we are hoping for. the danger is if one person tests positive among still very small workforce, you will have to shut up shop? completely. and because the kitchens are on site, the offices are upstairs, if someone in the kitchens gets ill, we are done for. let me move on to luke. we have seen one of your products, you make multiple car seats. we do indeed. coronavirus won't be affecting you? we haven't

seena drop won't be affecting you? we haven't seen a drop in sales yet, everything is exactly as it should be. our market is people having large families, third and fourth children and there is no reason why that shouldn't continue. your supply chain? a lot of our supply chain are small businesses, we are wary. if the coronavirus does, that and there are closures, we may see delays that our product has a lead time anyway, we have to have our customers understand that if there are slight delays, they will be fine. long—term and short—term we haven't seen an impact yet. what you are looking for from rishi sunak, not necessarily emergency measures but you are looking for help as small businesses, what kind of things? exactly. as a small business and innovative one, most of our reliance on the budget comes around investment. we are keen to see help for small businesses and with the uncertainty around the coronavirus, we want to ensure banks are still

lending to small businesses so we can push on and continue to grow and innovate. thanks, both of you. i will give you a final look at the maca roons. everyone will give you a final look at the macaroons. everyone paying very close attention to the budget later on. equally, as i said at the start, people are getting on with things and life is carrying on as normal in most parts of britain still at the moment. thank you very much for that insight. alice is here to take a look at what we mean about the pledges before the election in december. absolutely right, these are the spending rules the government imposed on itself during its election manifesto in december.

whether or not they are able to stick to them — is something that will come under scrutiny in this afternoon's budget. and his morning's emergency rate cut could make this easier for the government as it's now cheaper to borrow money. in the first of these rules, the government pledged to balance the books on its day—to—day spending in three years. but is this an impossible challenge for a government that is also committed to spending big? it means services like the nhs, welfare payments, schools and the armed forces must be paid for by tax revenues and not from extra borrowing. infrastructure projects like hs2 fall beyond this constraint they are classed as investments rather than day—to—day. you can see how the proportion of gdp — that's gross domestic product — that the government is spending on public services has fallen over the last ten years. last year was the first time in 17 years that the government raised more in taxes that it spent on public services. that surplus last year was £5.8 billion and in its most recent forecast, the office for budget responsibility predicts that the government could continue to run a surplus until the end of this parliament. but maintaining that surplus will be difficult if the government

is to deliver on promises made during the election to spend more money in traditionally labour areas that returned conservative mps in december. and that has created tension between the treasury and number ten. however, the issue dominating this budget is coronavirus. and the chancellor may well abandon any rules limiting spending to help the economy face the challenges the outbreak will bring. and of course, this morning's emergency rate cut may well help the government in trying to balance the books as it's now cheaper to borrow money. alice, thank you very much. arsenal's premier league match at manchester city tonight has been postponed — after some arsenal players had to be

isolated after coming into contact with the owner of greek club olympiakos. evangelos marinakis has tested positive for the virus — just days after his side's europa league game which took place two weeks ago. marinakis was at the match and those who were in his company are being tested as a precaution. marinakis also owns nottingham forest and attended their match against millwall last week. that includes senior staff and players. wolves are due to play olympiakos in the europa league tomorrow night — they've requested that that game is postponed. however, uefa has rejected their request — with the game taking place behind closed doors. well, wolves aren't happy and in a statement said some things were more important than football and it was an unnecessary risk to players, staff, supporters and the families of those travelling. the olympiakos players have been tested for coronavirus — but results came back negative. that game will be played behind closed doors tomorrow —

that was also the case last night in the champions league. the match in spain between valencia and italian side atalanta was the first to take place without fans due to the outbreak. josip ilicic scored four goals for atalanta as they won 4—3 on the night and 8—4 on aggregate in front of an empty stadium. and they dedicated the win to those affected by covid—19 in bergamo where the club are based. that's in the lombardy region of northen italy which is one of the worst affected areas in the country. meanwhile, last year's finalists tottenham are out after losing 3—0 to rb leipzig — the tie finishing 4—0 on aggregate to the german club. spurs haven't won in six games. if they are to play in the champions league next season, they'll need to turn things around.... they are curently seven points off

the top four in the premier league. we have our problems and our problems do not end in injuries but no team in the world would cope with the injuries for such a long time. you can cope for a couple of matches but not three or four. it is too much. spurs feature on many of the back papers this morning. many featuring the olympiacos owner. he lloris summing up the champions league defeat last night. and they're also doing their sums as to what cancellations and postponements might cost the fa. and both those stories in the guardian... jose mourinho lamenting his defeat —

no wayjose — the headline there. so we've already seen the impact the coronavirus has had on football. lots of other sports are being impacted too including formula one. the news season starts this weekend with the australian grand prix. however a member of mclaren's team is in self isolation in melbourne after being tested for the virus while two people from american outfit hass were also tested. the race is still set to go ahead with fans — despite the next grand prix in bahrain taking place behind closed doors and the chinese event being postponed. and in the last few minutes in cricket — england's test side have been told to avoid shaking hands on their tour of sri lanka. they've have also been told not to take selfies with fans or sign autographs. and across the bbc today, you can follow liverpool's champions league last 16 match against atletico madrid on 5 live — kick off is at 8pm. liverpool trail 1—0 going into the second leg at anfield. plus — on bbc four it's england women vjapan in the shebelieves cup. that gets underway at 9.15pm. and for more from today's headlines —

sportsday is at 6.30pm tonight on the bbc news channel. that's all the sport for now. we brought you the news that the labourmp we brought you the news that the labour mp rachel maskell was advised to self—isolate after she had a meeting with nadine dorries, the health minister who has tested positive for coronavirus. thankfully, she says she is asymptomatic so far and we can join rachel now, the mp for york central —— rachel. tell us about what has been happening over the last few days, when did you meet nadine dorries last? i met with nadine dorries to represent my constituents last thursday to discuss issues with mental health in york. on learning she has tested positive for

coronavirus, i contacted nhs111 to seek advice as to what actions i should take. when did you speak to nhs should take. when did you speak to nh5111? should take. when did you speak to nhs111? overnight on hearing the news. i have been placed in self isolation until the 19th of march following that meeting and the public health advice. i am finding myself but it is really important that we follow the of the experts to make sure we contain and delay the spread of this virus. even if we are feeling well and ourselves, it is important we play our part in this national effort. we have been talking about this advice so much over the past couple of weeks but to find yourself being the recipient of this advice, to be in this situation might feel quite surreal, i imagine. i think we have to just accept we are ina i think we have to just accept we are in a very new situation. we just have to play our part. as a nation,

we are all having to make different decisions than we would normally and if everybody follows the public health advice, isolate when asked to isolate, make sure they follow the hygiene advice of washing hands and catching coughs and sneezes and binning that and not making that facial contact, as a nation, we should be able to contain and delay this virus for as long as we possibly can. that is certainly what i want to do as part of my role. i wa nt to i want to do as part of my role. i want to get this message out to people who may feel well and get out and about in the community and go to work, don't if that is the advice you have. if you have had contact, listen to the experts. you are following this advice having had that meeting with nadine dorries but what about the government? people like the prime minister, who have had meetings with her in the time that potentially she had the virus

but wasn't showing symptoms, will this have an impact on government? there should be no exceptions to following public health advice. it has got to override everything and whether you are the prime minister or somebody who works in the parliamentary estate, everybody has got to follow that advice. you would be expecting them to get tested, then? it's not necessarily that everybody has been tested if you are asymptomatic. nhs111 will everybody has been tested if you are asymptomatic. nhs 111 will advice on the action you've got to take that it is important that everybody does follow the advice. it will have a real disruption to business and public life and we need to say, well, if they are the measures needed to keep our nation safe, we must all follow those instructions. rachael maskell mp, thank you, i hope you stay well. we will keep you right up to date throughout the day on all the developments on the

economy, the budget coming up in a few hours' time and the latest on the coronavirus outbreak. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon. the only part of our outlook that doesn't mention coronavirus. none of that. sunshine and showers across the uk. frequent showers in scotland and northern ireland, where we have had rainbows reported from the highlands. a beautiful rainbow with mountains in the background. those showers across scotland and northern ireland will ease off and drift further south, northern england and wales will see showers in the afternoon. further south, wales will see showers in the afternoon. furthersouth, cloud will break up this afternoon to give sunny spells. ouite blustery conditions, wind gusts up to 40, 40 5 miles an hour and temperatures across the south, 14, 15 celsius —— 45 miles an hour. that mild air across the south will be gradually shunted away overnight as the cold front shunted away overnight as the cold fro nt m oves shunted away overnight as the cold front moves its way in, colder air in the north will spread south. risk

of snow and ice tonight across scotla nd of snow and ice tonight across scotland and northern ireland. a frost elsewhere. to add thursday, a mixture of sunny spells and showers, most frequent across scotland and northern ireland, goodbye.

hello, it's wednesday, it's 10 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire and we're live from new broadcasting house. the bank of england has made an emergency cut to interest rates to shore up the economy as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread. health minister nadine dorries is the first mp to test positive for the virus. she's self—isolating at home and says she's more worried about her 84—year—old mum. the acting leader of the lib dems says it should act as a wake up call. all our thoughts are with her and wishing her a speedy recovery. i think it shows that coronavirus can hit anyone and it should be a wake—up call. also in the programme, a subject we've covered extensively — family courts and doemstic abuse. in today's budget, 5 million is being set aside to trial a new system combining them the fammily courts and criminal