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  • The extent of the economic and financial crisis facing the UK has Bean spelled out by the chancellor, Richie Soon AC, who set out his spending review today.

  • The cost of fighting the pandemic has led to record government borrowing on the worst recession in more than three centuries.

  • Next year, more than 2.5 million people could be out of work.

  • On this year alone, the government will be borrowing nearly £400 billion.

  • That's the highest ever in peacetime.

  • Some public sector workers can expect to pay freeze, though NHS staff and those earning less than £24,000 a year will be exempt.

  • But the chancellor is spending £3 billion on the restart program to help the unemployed find work under further £4 billion to target investment in those areas that have lost out in the past.

  • We start tonight with our political editor Laura Kononsberg on the day's events are warning.

  • There is some flash photography in the report about it.

  • The straight answer is looking very bad.

  • The chance those smooth political style can't hide what's been lurking in number 11 spreadsheets, Part one of the pandemic was the profound risk to our health.

  • Part two.

  • The cost of covert.

  • A nightmare starting to unfold.

  • Our economic emergency has only just begun.

  • So a blizzard of serious predictions about how the country's income or heart the largest fall in output for more than 300 years not expected to return to pre crisis levels until the fourth quarter of 2022 underlying debt is forecast to continue rising in every year.

  • In other words, the economy's been hammered by coronavirus on the most direct costs many many of us will pay with our jobs.

  • The OPR expects unemployment to rise to a peak in the second quarter of next year of 7.5% 26 million people.

  • Unemployment won't have reached that level for a decade on around 1.3 million.

  • Public sector staff outside the NHS will have their wages frozen.

  • I cannot justify a significant across the board pay increase for all public sector workers.

  • Instead, we are targeting our resources at those who need it most.

  • But how to justify breaking the government's promise on the aid budget for the world's poorest, sticking rigidly to spending 0.7% of our national income on overseas aid is difficult to justify to the British people.

  • Awkward for some ministers who had stood by the targets, one even quit.

  • But there are big promises.

  • We in government can set the direction better schools, more home, stronger defense, safer streets.

  • But it is the individual, the family and the community that must become stronger, healthier and happier.

  • As a result, vows on infrastructure will be kept.

  • This £4 billion for a pot that MPs can bid from for local projects.

  • Cash to help people find work, too.

  • There's three billion more for the health service to catch up after covert money for the additional police promised last year.

  • But there's no getting away from the shadows of the shutdown.

  • Coronavirus closed down much of the economy.

  • Massive borrowing to get it through is manageable for now because of rock bottom interest rates that may not last forever.

  • There could be a lot of pain ahead.

  • Earlier this year, the chancellor stood on his doorstep and clapped for key workers.

  • Today, his government institutes a pay freeze.

  • For many of them, this takes a sledgehammer to consumer confidence.

  • We need a comprehensive spending review, which takes responsible choices to build a future for our country, is the best place in the world to grow up in on the best place to grow old in.

  • Do you want to try with a bigger one?

  • Yeah, okay.

  • He certainly doesn't want a bigger hole in the economy.

  • Just like chancellors in other countries, Rishi soon ax borrowed and spent vast sums because of the pandemic.

  • Today's predictions, though, are based on a vaccine being rolled out on that There'll be a Brexit deal to Chancellor.

  • Does need to do a whole lot more to plan for the future and to make sure that he can, I anticipate what might come in the coming year on.

  • What is missing altogether from the spending review is the impact of Brexit.

  • The Democrats had called for a policy to save jobs and create jobs to create a fairer, greener economy.

  • On to ensure that no one was left behind and the chancellor hasn't delivered that.

  • Certainly no one in parliament will push ministers to pay her back right now, with so much uncertain the disease so hard to predict, even the mighty Treasury may have to watch and wait.

  • Laura Ginsburg, BBC News Westminster Looking at the figures in more detail, the Office for Budget Responsibility has calculated that the UK economy will shrink by more than 11% this year alone on this is happening, while the government is spending hundreds of billions of pounds of borrowed money to deal with the pandemic on its effect, as our economics editor, Faisal Islam explains, has been very little progress so far in the task off repaying the debt.

  • Grim economic numbers are of no surprise to anyone looking out on a high street here in Wakefield in Yorkshire, Locked down means no shoppers or staff.

  • But as elsewhere, months of pandemic uncertainty have seen the spread of the tell tale to let sign.

  • Here in one of the so called Blue Wall seats, locals have mixed feelings about the government's public pay squeeze.

  • Well, he's got to do what he thinks his best, what country?

  • A moment because state we're in people.

  • That's done the hard work you're in.

  • Corbett.

  • That should get the pay rises.

  • It's a public sector workers.

  • Today's forecast show that the economy is set to shrink by over 11% this year, a three century record before recovering more slowly from next year.

  • That means an annual increase in borrowing only seen during world wars nearly £400 billion.19 percent of the size of the national economy.

  • A staggering figure.

  • Yet the interest bill to pay for it is also tumbling as historic and frankly unimaginable as some of these numbers are, both the hits to the economy on the huge rise in borrowing they are in the past.

  • It's just they're so big that they're going to have an impact for years to come.

  • But there is this other record.

  • A record low in just how cheap it will be to actually pay for this massive debt that buys time for the chancellor and means relatively small down payments on shrinking.

  • The borrowing is a law that was required, but where the economy goes does just depend.

  • Unemployment is expected to go up about a million to 7.5% as a result of the crisis, but the forecast assumes progress on a vaccine and functioning testing systems.

  • Without that, the economy and jobs picture gets much worse, peaking at 11%.

  • On the other hand, with better than expected.

  • Health progress Unemployment barely goes up it all.

  • The government's official forecaster acknowledges the uncertainty the economy at the mercy of medical developments andan imminent decision on a post Brexit trade deal.

  • If no vaccine proves effective and also we end up leaving the EU without a deal and trading on W t o terms, that would combine a 6% hit to the economy from the fact that we're living with the disease with a 2% hit to the economy from the fact that we're trading with our single largest trading partner on W t o terms, the chancellor is earmarking huge amounts to health to deal with the pandemic to get the economy back to normal.

  • But other areas of spending on pay, for example, for teachers earning above average wages for police officers and prison officers have been frozen alongside cuts to aid.

  • If you take out the spending on coveted, actually, he's reduced his plan spending compared with what he was suggesting back in March by about £10 billion a year going forward on he's also actually allocated nothing at all to deal with coveted after next year, so these numbers look to me pretty tight.

  • Back in Wakefield, this council worker union rep married to a teacher certainly feels the return of austerity.

  • It's a bit of a kick in the teeth, really.

  • I've worked like many of my fellow colleagues throughout the pandemic of key Worker, it feels like public sector workers have been punished again by the government for a crisis that was not of our making.

  • The lowest paid were protected, but the economic shadow of covert 19 will last not just passed this Christmas, but many future festive seasons.

  • Faisal Islam, BBC News.

The extent of the economic and financial crisis facing the UK has Bean spelled out by the chancellor, Richie Soon AC, who set out his spending review today.

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