The Chancellor has relieved the pressure on firms by deferring the next quarter of VAT payments, worth more than £30 billion.

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A loan scheme to help cash-starved firms will also be  extended to help companies through the economic storm.

The government's intervention comes as the the UK's COVID-19 death toll hit 177.

Appealing to the British people to pull together, Mr Sunak vowed to "stand behind" the UK's workforce and its employers as he unveiled the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The VAT holiday will give firms valuable breathing space as they fight to stay afloat during the epidemic, which has ripped across the world.

Mr Sunak said: "To help businesses keep people in work, I'm deferring the next quarter of VAT payments.

"That means no business will pay VAT from now to mid June. You'll have until the end of the financial year to repay those bills.

£30 BILLION BOOST

"That's a direct injection of over £30bn of cash to businesses equivalent to 1.5 per cent of GDP."

A loan scheme to help businesses will also now be interest free for a year, an extension of six months.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme will be available from Monday.

Mr Sunak assured businesses "we in government are doing everything we can to protect you" as he rolled out  the Treasury's battle plan.

He added: "We want to look back on this time and remember how in the face of a generation-defining moment, we undertook a collective national effort and we stood together.

"It's on all of us."

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The government will also cover up to 80 per cent of workers' wages up to £2,500 a month through grant funding – worth as much as £30,000 a year per employee.

It would cover earnings backdated to March 1 and be open for at least three months with "no limit" on the amount of funding available.

Mr Sunak described the bumper package he unveiled today as "unprecedented in the history of the British state".

In support of businesses and workers Mr Sunak wrote a blank cheque by also announcing:

• Universal Credit standard allowance is to increase by £1,000 a year for the next 12 months
• Working tax credit is to increase by £1,000 a year
• Self assessment tax return deferred to January 2021

The Government is also pledging nearly £1 billion for renters through increasing housing benefit and Universal Credit.

Today's announcement comes on the back of a £330 billion coronavirus loan scheme for businesses to access, which was announced by Mr Sunak on Tuesday.

Business chiefs have given the Chancellor's new measures a massive thumbs up today.

Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "The chancellor has given businesses desperately needed breathing room at this critical moment.

"The deferral of VAT payments keeps money in the pockets of businesses so that they can pay their people and suppliers, and the commitment to cover wages of those unable to work will allow firms to retain jobs if they are forced to reduce their operations."

The Prime Minister also revealed that pubs restaurants and leisure centres across the whole of Britain will shut "as soon as possible" tonight amid the spiralling coronavirus crisis.

Speaking alongside Mr Sunak, Boris Johnson made the unprecedented announcement ordering all venues to shut their doors as the government tries to battle the outbreak.

Pubs restaurants and leisure centres across the whole of Britain will shut "as soon as possible" tonight amid the spiralling coronavirus crisis.

Speaking alongside Mr Sunak, Boris Johnson made the unprecedented announcement this evening ordering all venues to shut their doors as the Government tries to battle the outbreak.

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