Thread by @PickardJE

increasingly clear that events have moved quickly since last week's Budget and the government is going to need to make an economic intervention on a dramatically bigger scale, and at pace, preferably with international co-operation

parallels with the collapse of Lehman Brothers don't seem wide of the mark:

the sheer number of industries desperately seeking government help is mounting up....

AVIATION

Virgin Atlantic wrote to ministers on Monday calling for a £7.5bn bail-out for airlines as air travel grinds to a halt – warning 10s of 1000s of jobs could be lost without help.

most airlines face bankruptcy by end of May, industry body warns

ft.com/content/30a3a2…

LEISURE INDUSTRY

Hospitality UK - which represents restaurants/hotels/bars - says industry is 4-6 weeks away from running out of cash and warns of "hundreds of thousands of redundancies" without urgent state intervention.

It says turnover across the sector is down up to 70%

RETAILERS

FT has obtained letter to Chancellor from British Retail Consortium on Monday warning many retail executives are now seriously concerned about liquidity.

BRC boss Helen Dickinson said ministers must "urgently consider a financial package to support these businesses".

RAIL INDUSTRY

I'm told Rail Delivery Group has sent letter to ministers urging support for train operators with train journeys down a fifth in weeks.

Rail companies are privately seeking £2bn of relief based on the current 20% passenger drop vs £10bn/year of fare revenue.

PM Johnson says he will do “everything we can to give them [companies] the liquidity they need."

This could include giving firms more time to pay tax.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will chair new “business economic response committee”

with @DanielThomasLDN

ft.com/content/aa491a…

In last week’s Budget Sunak announced £9bn of new measures to combat impact of epidemic on business – including business rates relief and new hardship fund.

He also said: “If further action is needed as the situation evolves…I will not hesitate to act.”

Watch this space.....

I’m hearing from all sorts of small business folk this evening who are staring catastrophe in the face:

marketing, furniture supplier, pub landlord, decorator.....all fearing the worst

Someone from construction industry gets in touch:

"3.3m people, 40% self employed, all reliant on cash. If the government forces construction sites to close you'll see businesses going into admin within weeks and taking thousands and thousands of jobs with them."

this shot from Bluewater car park yesterday

remember that - even pre-virus - the situation was bleak for high streets:

Dixons Carphone Warehouse this morning announced closure of all its 530 UK stores focused on phones with the loss of nearly 3,000 jobs, as consumers shift their shopping online

ft.com/content/98253d…

now the insurance industry has argued that standard business interruption cover does not apply in the current scenario - prompting major backlash from hard-hit companies

ft.com/content/874f79…

the economic case for mega-intervention is laid out here by @FD @FT

ftalphaville.ft.com/2020/03/17/158…