you're watching bbc newsroom live. it's ham and these are the main stories this morning. 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 to help support businesses. these measures will help keep firms in business and people injobs and they will prevent a temporary disruption from causing longer lasting economic harm. the bank's moves come as the new chancellor, rishi sunak, prepares to deliver his first budget. he's expected to announce support for the nhs and new spending on infrastructure. i'm here in wakefield getting reaction to that rate cut

—— the hope is the chancellor and prime minister will deliver on ma nifesto prime minister will deliver on manifesto promises. more cash and powerful areas like theirs. butjust as in the rest of the country, the priority is how to deal with the growing crisis over coronavirus. health minister nadine dorries becomes the first mp to test postive with the virus, and labour mp rachael maskell self—isolates following a meeting with nadine last thursday. 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. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. i'm annita mcveigh. the bank of england has announced an emergency cut in interest rates for the first time since the banking crisis of 2008, to help

the economy cope with the effects of coronavirus. the bank has also promised billions of pounds of extra lending will be made available to firms. the bank of england has reduced rates from 0.75% to 0.25%, citing the increased risk to the economy. the announcement came just hours before the chancellor is due to deliver his first budget. rishi sunak will pledge to help the uk battle the impact of the coronavirus, saying the nhs will get "whatever resources it needs" to manage the outbreak. he is also expected to announce measures to help small businesses and the self—employed, as well as an increase in infrastructure spending. the health minister nadine dorries has become the first member of the government to test positive for the virus and is self—isolating at home. last week, she attended a downing street reception hosted by the prime minister.

health officials are urgently trying to establish how far the virus may have spread within government. and with the number of coronavirus cases in the uk set to rise, the nhs has announced a major increase in its testing capabilities. more than 26,000 people have been tested for the virus so far, with 382 positive cases confirmed. there have been six deaths in the uk. 0n the economy, the governor of the bank of england said the interest rate cut and measures to support businesses were designed to prevent the outbreak causing longer—lasting damage to the economy. 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 compressive 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. let's go to westminster to get more on what this all means for today's budget. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is there. coronavirus, the bank of england's announcement, the budget, all wrapped up and intertwine today. can we expect the chancellor to announce measures that will back up what the bank of england has announced with yellow absolutely, i mean, —— has announced 7 yellow absolutely, i mean, —— has announced? absolutely, i know, the challenges it is going to mean for businesses, trying to alleviate those, what it is going to mean for them in ordinary folk is going to be front and centre of the budget because that is what rishi sunak has just told the cabinet. this is going

to be the coronavirus budget and it has to be because for many businesses, they need to know what kind of support they can expect from the government to tide them through this emergency and particularly for small and medium—sized businesses, they want to know what they do about getting supplies, what they do about trying to ensure they have the cash flow to keep turning over, to try to ensure that banks don't start leaning on them. so i think we will get a range of measures which could include things like business rates holidays, could include some tax relief, some grants, all sorts of measures, just to try to take a bit of the pressure off business. 0n measures, just to try to take a bit of the pressure off business. on top of the pressure off business. on top of that, public services, too, and above all, the nhs, rishi sunak has already said the nhs will get whatever it needs, so presumably, a huge slab of cash going towards the nhs, which will have, you know, massively increased demands on its

resources . massively increased demands on its resources. and then for ordinary folk who contract coronavirus, millions of people, of course, are not covered by sick pay, those who are self—employed or in the gig economy or indeed, who unless than the threshold for claiming it, of £118 per week. i think there will have to be something in the budget to provide support for them. 0therwise, to provide support for them. otherwise, you know, there's a massive incentive for those people to keep going to work even if they contract the virus. this is going to bea contract the virus. this is going to be a budget, i imagine, where all the headlines will be about the coronavirus and what people are interested in will be the nuts and bolts of assistance that the government is prepared to provide during this crisis. and norman, nadine dorries, the health minister, as we have been reporting, testing positive for coronavirus and self isolating at the moment. i spoke to another mp a little earlier, rachael maskell, a labour mp, who had a

meeting with nadine dorries last week. as a result of nhs advice, she is also self isolating, which begs the question, could and should the prime minister and others in government who had contact with nadine dorries last week follow suit? well, the short answer is, they haven't at the moment because we know they are going about their business as usual. but it seems to me to bea business as usual. but it seems to me to be a fair question, because nadine dorries, it seems, has met... 0bviously, she has met health officials and health ministers but perhaps more importantly, she attended the international women's day reception in downing street on thursday night after she began to feel unwell and at that reception where basically the cast list of all... a range of significant women in the world of politics, business and sport. so you had dame kelly holmes there, alison rose-quirie the

chief executive of rbs, liz truss, the international development secretary, anne marie trevelyan, the international developer and secretary. —— liz truss, the international trade secretary. the question is, has anyone contracted it and of course, the prime minister himself was there with his partner carrie symons —— symonds. and nadine dorries will have been in parliament so it will raise questions about whether further measures have to be taken in parliament. there is a huge body of opinion in westminster which absolutely does andrew sentance is a former member of

the monetary policy committee and is now a senior adviser to cambridge econometrics. judging by what has been said ever, the most important part of that package is to pass on aid to business and do you that that kind of helpful flow readily from the banks? i think the bank of england has two rebels in this kind of situation. the first is to change the macroeconomic environment. that is normally done through reducing interest rates. the problem is they have very little scope to reduce interest rates, so they have used practically all the ammunition by making a 0.5% cut this morning. and then the other role they have is to oil the wheels of the financial system, and that was very important in the financial crisis. the bank of england is lender of last resort. it

really supports... underpins the financial system. they are clearly keen to do that. and i think we can just show the viewers are some pictures of mark carney, the governor of the bank of england and chancellor rishi sunak, there we go, meeting. ijust wonder, how important do you think these measures are in the current situation, where we have no definitive idea how long this outbreak of coronavirus is going to last for, and can't possibly predict, yet, all of the economic outcomes of that. well, these health emergency is not, you know, perhaps for three to six months. —— health emergencies last. i don't think this one will be significantly different from that. we are well into it already. it is not like the global financial crisis, which cast a great shadow over the economy for many yea rs shadow over the economy for many years to come. i think the economy

will bounce back, hopefully in the second half of this year. 0k, thank you very much forjoining us. my colleague simon mccoy is in wakefield. good morning. iam good morning. i am at the trinity walk shopping centre in wakefield where obviously they will be monitoring what is going on today as much as the rest of us. with me are our consumer affairs correspondent sarah corker and local business owner tania howe, who runs the candle shop betty loves candles. her business isjust her business is just around the corner. sarah, they are looking for cash and power around here. yes, and what we will be looking for today is the detail about those big infrastructure spending announcements. we have heard plenty of promises about levelling up spending gap between the north and south. businesses here are really lobbying for what is called northern powerhouse rail. that is about making it easier to get east to west. at the moment, it can take half a day to get between liverpool

and hull, for example. by connecting the big cities across the north, that will really help economic growth. tania, self-employed, small business owner, coronavirus rearing its head, how long can you keep going? we have already had an interest rate cut announced this morning. what else can we do? i'm self—employed so no one is going to help me, i got to help myself. figures have improved so maybe i will have to dip into my savings but how long can i go on with it? in terms of the other priorities, more cash, it is all about cash flow, isn't it? yes, we would love to see more bobbies on the beat as well. you have got a problem here? massive nationwide shoplifting problem, and it is draining the high street, not only trading businesses but preventing people coming out on the streets because they don't want to see it all be part of it and we need to stop it and they know they can get away with it. that is what is happening. what are the other priorities, like local transport?

happening. what are the other priorities, like localtransport? to be fair, it is not too bad in wakefield, we've got to the station which, when it works on time, is fine. the bus station is in the town which away helps and a lot of people do use public transport to come into town. parking may be an issue. and things like a mayor for west yorkshire, with that make a difference? it could help, my thing is enforcement, with certain issues that happen on the high street, may be landlords tidying up their properties, making everything more... you know, nice. on that basis, things like signage that are very expensive for small businesses, business rates, these arches we want looked at. if business rates were lowered, even if we could lower vat for the high street, lowered, even if we could lower vat forthe high street, keep lowered, even if we could lower vat for the high street, keep it with online so it would encourage people onto the high definitely. landlords need to come out and tidy up the frontage and signage, definitely. we will be watching later. thank you for joining will be watching later. thank you forjoining us. we will be back later, monitoring the budget but back to you.

in a a minute, we'll be going over live to westminster for a bbc special on the budget, but for now we saying goodbye now to viewers on bbc two. we'll be answering your questions about what the budget means to you and your family here on bbc news at 8.30pm. email your questions on yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet us with the hashtag #your0uestionsanswered. a quick look at other news — as we mentioned earlier, nhs england says it's scaling up its capacity for testing for the coronvirus. it means 10,000 tests can be done daily, compared to just 1,500 currently, and confirmation of any positive results will be accelerated. more than 380 cases have been confirmed in the uk so far. tonight's premier league match between arsenal and manchester city has been postponed because of the coronavirus.

now let's go over to westminster and join that bbc special on the budget with andrew neil. it is budget day, thejohnson government unveils its new plans, with special emphasis on its new voters in the midlands and the north. but for a rookie chancellor, only 28 days in the job, the north. but for a rookie chancellor, only 28 days in thejob, the biggest challenge is the growing economic impact of the coronavirus, and what he can do to vaccinate the economy from it.