Sunak has stopped digging, but can he clamber out of his Covid hole?

U-turn on job support scheme leaves many self-employed feeling aggrieved

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U-turns are always hard for politicians but Rishi Sunak's was more humiliating than most. It was only last month that the chancellor was congratulating himself on the generosity of his winter economy plan, which scaled back the Treasury's financial support just as the Covid-19 pandemic was entering a more threatening phase.

Yet from the moment Sunak announced the details of his WEP it was clear that he would have to come up with more or risk businesses go bust in their droves.