Without money coming in the door, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular are unable to pay their bills – their rent, their suppliers, their bank repayments and so on.

Some can be deferred – but many cannot. And a serious cash squeeze is now in place in the SME sector and threatens the future of many companies. The Government moved quickly to underwrite wage costs and protect incomes. But unless credit supports are significantly increased, many may not reopen when restrictions are eased and others will do so weighed down by debts. But this is a potentially costly and risky issue for policymakers – but there is a potentially big price in not acting as well. This is a real issue for the Government – or quite possibly the next one.