Chancellor Rishi Sunak promises £750 million for charities during coronavirus crisis; reports that condition of Prime Minister Boris Johnson is improving
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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised £750 million of funding for the charity sector across the UK during the coronavirus outbreak.
At today's Downing Street briefing he also reported that the Prime Minister, hospitalised at the weekend after his coronavirus symptoms failed to clear up, is apparently doing better.
Mr Sunak said Boris Johnson remains in intensive care but is “sitting-up in bed and engaging positively with the clinical team” at St Thomas's Hospital in London.
Admitting that the economic impact of Covid-19 "have an impact" on jobs and livelihoods he unveiled a £750 million package of support for charities
The fund will be split between small, local charities working with vulnerable people and those providing essential services.
Up to £200 million in grants will support hospices, with the rest going to organisations like the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, and bodies supporting children, victims of domestic abuse and disabled people.
Scotland will share around £60 million of the total, along with Wales and Northern Ireland.
He said: "There are over 170,000 charities and we will not be able to match every pound of funding they would have received this year. Charities teach us the lesson that the simplest acts have the potential to change lives.
"At this time, when many are hurting, tired and confined, we need the gentleness of charities in our lives. It gives us hope, makes us stronger and reminds us we depend on each other."
On the wider economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic he said: “This will have a significant impact on our economy, and not in an abstract way. It will have an impact on people’s jobs and their livelihoods. That is why we have taken the actions we have in order to help mitigate some of that.
“I believe we are doing the right things. I can’t stand here and say there isn’t going to be hardship ahead, because there is. I’ve been very clear and very honest that this will make a significant impact on our economy.
“In spite of what are unprecedented measures in scale and scope, I can’t stand here and say I can save every single job, protect every single business or, indeed, every single charity. That’s just simply not possible."
