Will the government’s coronavirus bailout work?

Analysis: Are the criticisms of the £350bn package justified? Is it likely to work in mitigating the economic damage from this emergency? Ben Chu investigates

The business secretary Alok Sharma says the government is ‘looking very actively’ at doing more (AFP/Getty)

The government’s £350bn coronavirus bailout package for the economy has been criticised as insufficient by the Labour Party, some industry lobby groups and trade unions.

The fact that much of the assistance for firms is in the form of loans, rather than grants, has been cited as a deficiency.

So has the fact that it does too little to incentivise firms to retain workers, relative to schemes in Denmark, Germany and Sweden.