Spending Review live: Chancellor sets out plans for the next year

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is delivering his Spending Review in the House of Commons, laying bare the damage done by coronavirus to the economy and public finances.

Mr Sunak said that the UK’s “economic emergency has only just begun” and that the Government was providing £280 billion this year to get the country through the coronavirus crisis.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is forecasting the economy will contract this year by 11.3%, he said.

Here’s the latest from Westminster:

12.55pm

Rishi Sunak said the Government is providing £280 billion to “get our country through coronavirus”, telling MPs: “Next year, to fund our programmes on testing, personal protective equipment and vaccines, we are allocating an initial £18 billion.”

The Chancellor said £3 billion would be provided to support NHS recovery – allowing them to carry out up to one million checks, scans, and operations – while more than £2 billion will be spent on transport, with funding to subsidise rail networks.

He added: “And while much of our coronavirus response is UK-wide, the Government is also providing £2.6 billion to support the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“Taken together, next year, public services funding to tackle coronavirus will total £55 billion.”

12.51pm

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said that the UK’s “economic emergency has only just begun” and that the Government was providing £280 billion this year to get the country through the coronavirus crisis as he set out his Spending Review in the House of Commons.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is forecasting the economy will contract this year by 11.3%, the Chancellor said.

12.50pm

The Chancellor said the Spending Review “delivers on the priorities” of the British people, telling the Commons: “Our health emergency is not yet over, and our economic emergency has only just begun.

“So our immediate priority is to protect people’s lives and livelihoods.”

Rishi Sunak said the Spending Review seeks to deliver “stronger public services” and it will deliver a “once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure”.

12.45pm

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has risen to deliver his Spending Review.

12.25pm

12.15pm

12pm

Ahead of the speech, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn joined a number of the party’s MPs in writing a letter to the Chancellor about statutory sick pay, despite the fact he is now an independent.

Mr Corbyn recently had the party whip removed by successor Sir Keir Starmer over his response to a report in to anti-Semitism.

11.50am

11.30am