Rishi Sunak urged to boost pandemic recovery with £190 billion stimulus

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. As the chancellor prepares to unveil the Budget next month, the Institute for Public Policy Research warned the UK economy risks falling into a “stagnation trap” without a further package of spending from the Treasury. Researchers at the think-tank calculate that a bold recovery plan worth £190 billion — or 8.6 per cent of GDP — could support business and households hardest hit by the pandemic and restore jobs. “A significantly more powerful boost, equivalent to 8.6 per cent of the value of the economy, would deliver faster recovery, stimulate business investment to its pre-pandemic level and halve the number of job losses — without causing high UK inflation”. Eminent institutions including the International Monetary Fund and the OECD now advocate a sizeable stimulus for economies like ours, financed by borrowing, as interest rates are so low and the scope to generate rapid growth is so large.” A Treasury spokesperson said: “Our priority throughout the past year has been to protect as many jobs as possible – which is why we’ve invested more than £280 billion to support jobs, businesses and our public services.