Boris Johnson has shaken up the UK Government structure to co-ordinate Whitehall’s emergency response in the “war” against the coronavirus outbreak.

The move came after a sombre Cabinet meeting when the Prime Minister updated senior colleagues about the “fightback,” telling them: “We are engaged in a war against the disease, which we have to win.”

Speaking ahead of this afternoon’s press conference by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, when he is expected to pledge hundreds of billions of pounds to help businesses up and down the land survive the pandemic, Mr Johnson insisted the Government must rise to the challenge of supporting businesses through what will be hugely challenging times.

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The Cabinet followed the first meeting last night of the Economic and Business Response Committee chaired by Mr Sunak alongside his deputy chairman Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary.

The PM told colleagues he was setting up new ministerial structures across Government to co-ordinate, prioritise and respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Four new implementation committees focusing on health, public sector preparedness, economy and international response, will feed into a new daily Covid-19 or C-19 meeting, which will be chaired by Mr Johnson.

He will continue to chair regular UK Cobra meetings to take strategic decisions and review overall progress in the campaign to contain, delay and mitigate coronavirus. The additional daily C-19 meeting of key ministers and officials will monitor progress and refine the measures agreed by Cobra. The chairmen of the implementation committees - the Chancellor, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary - will attend the daily C-19 meeting.

No 10 said the PM was clear that countering this pandemic would require significant collective national effort from Government, businesses, charities, communities and citizens across the UK. The implementation committees will regularly meet with key representatives from relevant sectors to inform their decision-making.

Recognising coronavirus presents unique challenges economically, internationally and across a wide range of sectors, the four implementation committees are:

*Healthcare, chaired by Mr Hancock, focusing on the preparedness of the NHS, notably ensuring capacity in the critical care system for those worst affected, the medical and social package of support for those to whom we will be providing the new shielding regime;

*General Public Sector, chaired by Mr Gove, to look at preparedness across the rest of the public and critical national infrastructure, excluding the NHS;

*Economic and Business, chaired by Mr Sunak, considering the economic and business impact and response, including supply chain resilience, and co-ordinating roundtables with key sectors to be chaired by relevant Secretaries of State and

*International, chaired by Mr Raab, looking at the international response to the crisis through the G7, G20 and other mechanisms, including like-minded groups, and the UK five-point plan.

Downing St added that civil servants and the UK’s leading experts would continue to support the Government’s efforts and contribute to its approach, led by the best scientific advice.

Last night’s meeting of the Economic and Business Response Committee was also attended by the Secretaries of State for Culture, Transport, Housing, International Trade and Work and Pensions as well as senior officials from across Whitehall.

The committee will consider and respond to the impact on business and the economy from the pandemic, including supply chain resilience, and will also be able to request advice and support from industry where necessary.

The Secretaries of State will hold sector specific roundtables including, but not limited to, aviation, retail, manufacturing, food, insurance, financial services, sport, entertainment and events, and tourism and hospitality.

These roundtables will help inform the work of the committee. No 10 said the PM would also actively engage with business to understand the challenges faced by firms across the economy to shape the Government’s response to the crisis.

At the first meeting, the committee discussed Government support for businesses affected by COVID-19, including urgent progress on delivering the £12 billion of measures in last week’s Budget.

This includes:

*reimbursing small and medium-sized employers across the UK for up to two weeks’ statutory sick pay for each employee absent due to COVID-19;

*extending business rates cuts so that 900,000 small businesses in England will pay no rates at all in 2020/21, to help them manage financial pressures created by COVID-19;

*providing £2.2bn funding for one-off grants of £3,000 to around 700,000 small businesses south of the border;

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*a new temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to be launched shortly to support businesses in all parts of the UK to access £1bn of additional bank lending and

*a dedicated HMRC helpline to enable UK businesses in financial distress to discuss deferring tax bills where necessary.

The Chancellor also updated the committee on last Thursday’s meeting with financial services firms which agreed an additional £21bn of lending capacity to firms. The committee also discussed the importance of keeping under review regulations and lightening their burden where possible, including in response to requests from business.