Business

Julie Abraham is chief executive of Richer Sounds, the home entertainment retailer with shops across the country, and Mariana Mazzucato is an economist who’s written about recovery from the pandemic.

Pubs across the country have certainly been busy today and we are at one outdoor venue in Manchester.

Pints are being poured, hair is being cut, tills are ringing in the shops, and al fresco meals are being served, as one of the world’s longest and most stringent lockdowns finally came to an end.

We spoke to Dr Hannah White, from the Institute for Government and Lord Myners, who was financial services secretary under Gordon Brown.

One of the most immediate issues facing MPs in ‘Red Wall’ constituencies is the future of the steel industry, amid fears that thousands of jobs could be lost if Liberty Steel goes under.

Pressure is growing on David Cameron to explain his advisory work for the collapsed financial services firm Greensill. Labour today said an investigation was needed into the former prime minister’s lobbying role.

A year of pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on the British economy. Unemployment has jumped by almost 700,000 and trillions of pounds have been knocked off the country’s output as companies struggle to survive.

We have some new information about what he’s been up to.

Serena Barker Singh takes us through the corridors of Clubhouse – and asks whether this is an app that really is like no other – or whether it’s got all the baggage of its social media ancestors.

Will we even be buying the same things from the same businesses as we did before the lockdowns?

The latest forecast from the government’s Budget watchdog, the OBR, points to a stronger recovery from the Covid crisis than previously predicted.

We talk to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay.

There are giveaways and takeaways from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with an immediate plan to support both businesses and individuals followed by a move to claw the spending back.

The Chancellor is promising to use the “fiscal firepower” of the government in his Budget tomorrow to get Britain’s economy back on track.

We were joined by the economist Miatta Fahnbulleh, who’s chief executive of the New Economics Foundation think tank.