‘Build, build, build’: Johnson hopes £5bn ‘New Deal’ will kickstart post-virus economy

An investment of £5bn, which is being compared to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1930’s “New Deal”, will be made.

“It sounds positively Rooseveltian. It sounds like a New Deal,” Mr Johnson is expected to say on Tuesday.

“All I can say is that, if so, then that is how it is meant to sound and to be, because that is what the times demand – a Government that is powerful and determined and that puts its arms around people at a time of crisis.

“This is a Government that is wholly committed not just to defeating coronavirus but to using this crisis finally to tackle this country’s great unresolved challenges of the last three decades.

“To build the homes, to fix the NHS, to tackle the skills crisis, to mend the indefensible gap in opportunity and productivity and connectivity between the regions of the UK. To unite and level up.

“To that end we will build, build, build.”

but Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the cash is “not enough”.On the cash, Sir Keir said “there is not much that’s new, and, it’s not much of a deal”, adding: “What’s been announced amounts to less than £100 per person, and it’s the re-announcement of many manifesto pledges and commitments.

US could reach 100,000 new virus cases a day, Fauci says

Dr Anthony Fauci has said coronavirus cases could grow to 100,000 a day in the US if Americans do not start following public health recommendations.

The nation’s leading infectious disease expert made the remark at a Senate hearing on reopening schools and workplaces.

Asked to forecast the outcome of recent surges in some states, Dr Fauci said he cannot make an accurate prediction, but believes it will be “very disturbing”.

“We are now having forty-plus-thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around, and so I am very concerned,” said Dr Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health.

Facebook and YouTube crack down on hate speech as top firms halt advertising

Facebook and YouTube have pledged to step up their efforts on tackling hate speech and content on their platforms as a growing number of firms have stopped advertising on the social media networks.

Starbucks has suspended advertising on Facebook, following the likes of Coca-Cola and Unilever, amid concerns the tech giant is failing to address the issue.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has come under fire for not taking action, including on removing a post by Donald Trump, which the president said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”, during protests across the US over the death of George Floyd.

The former prime minister unleashes criticism on her successor’s pick of David Frost – a political appointment.

Gulf economies to shrink by 7.6% this year, says IMF

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will see their economies shrink by 7.6 percent this year, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said on Tuesday, revising downwards April forecasts of nearly 3 percent.

The six GCC nations are, with varying degrees, facing steep economic declines as the slowdown in business activity due to the coronavirus pandemic is amplified by a price drop in hydrocarbons, which are their main source of revenue.

The IMF last week said Saudi Arabia’s economy — the largest in the Arab world — faces a 6.8 percent contraction this year, sharper than the 2.3 percent the Washington-based lender had forecast in April.

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