Wanted: an international solution to the plight of the Hong Kongers

Three million of them are unlikely to pitch up here, but government must plan for all eventualities – and support for its plan wouldn’t survive a mass influx.

Richard Holden: Here in Durham, Labour ponder tinkering with statues – while local people yearn for jobs, security and pay

We need to switch from specifying “what’s allowed to open” to “what in the interest of public health needs to continue to be restricted.”

Andrew Green: We cannot responsibly fling our doors open to three million Hong Kongers

This is 25 times the number of skilled work permits issued each year to non-EU citizens and their dependants.

When it comes to dealing with its own MPs, this Government is out of its depth

Some of its problems can be fixed. Others won’t be. And one perhaps can’t be: namely, that this Parliament seems to be incapable of saying No.

Will Green: I’m a Labour supporter – but here’s why I believe that Universal Basic Income wouldn’t work

Effectively, for much of the population, UBI would merely take their money and then give it back to them. What’s the point?

David Gauke: The virus – and my journey from serving as Lord Chancellor to volunteering to stack shelves

Plus: Treasury and Work & Pensions lessons. Greenlighters v the rest. Remembering Attlee’s surplus. And: the key question now is “how”, not “what”.

The economy and the virus. Tear up the rulebook – we need Big State Government on a scale unknown in modern times.

The implications of the crisis are such that Johnson and Sunak need not so much to think outside the box as to trample it to tatters altogether.

Budget 1) This was less a Conservative Budget than “the People’s Budget”. From a Vote Leave Government – not the usual Tory one.

It may be necessary, given the Coronavirus, and could even work. But Britain has a long, long record of state spending failing to turbo-charge growth.

Robert Halfon: The Budget we need today is for social as well as physical infrastructure

Plus: As of writing, I’ve had hardly any communications at all from constituents about the Coronavirus.

Ryan Bourne: The real Budget question on borrowing is not “could we?” but “should we?”

My answer would be “maybe, provided the spending or tax cuts significantly improved our growth potential.”

Reshuffle 1) The lesson of this PJ Masks shakeup. For Johnson and Cummings, it is truly Do or Die.

We cheer the mission. But government needs more compromise, art, tact and accomodation than campaigning alone allows.

Ryan Bourne: The core challenge that Johnson’s Government won’t face up to. Boosting growth.

Ministers have been asked to push the Government’s priorities – tackling crime, funding the NHS, “levelling up”. How can these be effected without faster growth?

The election in which the Conservatives finally waved farewell to Thatcher’s ghost

Johnson is a self-described “Brexity Hezza” and now has the chance to mould a Party and country in his own romantic image.

Jack Airey: The next Government should revitalise Key Worker Housing

Vital public services face a recruitment crisis because the cost of living deters applicants. Our report shows how the Tories can address this challenge.

Matt Kilcoyne: The Conservative manifesto. Wooing Labour heartlands with socialist policy is a doomed strategy.

The first piece of a series this week about what the Conservative Manifesto should look like.