Boris Johnson will need to do much more than close schools if he is to get coronavirus done

Editorial: Renters urgently need a rent holiday; statutory sick pay must be increased and made accessible. Ministers seem to acknowledge these issues – but have done nothing to address them

The prime minister was reminded yet again in the Commons that simply repeating ‘whatever it takes’ is not going to pay a family’s rent or put food on their table

Not for the first time, the government has found itself scrambling to keep up with current events. With anxious parents increasingly taking their children out of school, and closures already announced in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it was inevitable that a near-total UK school closure would follow.

They may not reopen until the autumn. That in itself will present new challenges for families, though not for those of “key workers”, who will continue to go to school as normal. The provision of money for food for families with children eligible for free school meals is very welcome.

The move certainly raises yet more pressing questions for ministers, not least about how children’s education will be affected in the medium term.