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Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, the Spectator's Daily Politics Podcast.

I'm Isabel Hardman and this is the Sunday roundup.

Ahead of the budget this Wednesday, both Andrew Maher and Sophie Ridge were joined by the

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.

With government's roadmap for ending the lockdown having been published last week,

all eyes are now on Sunak and the economic levers that he will be pulling as the government prepares to reopen the country for business. With restrictions still not forecast to end until June,

Ridge asked Sunak if he was planning to extend the furlough scheme.

Will the furlough scheme last for a while longer? It's due, of course, to finish in April,

but the restrictions are not going to lift, or all the restrictions won't lift till June.

Well, when it comes to support in general, I said at the beginning of this crisis that I would do

whatever it took to protect people,

families and businesses through this crisis and I remain completely committed to that. The Prime

Minister in the roadmap set out a path for us to recover and reopen and I want to support people and

businesses along that part. So it's going to be extended. I'm not going to comment on specific policies, but I want to make sure people realise that, you know, we are going to be there to

support them. And if you look at our track record, we went big, we went early, and there's more to come

next week. With regard to airports, for example, they had a generous break on their business rates

over this past year. The furlough scheme, know has been helpful for many people employed in their industry.

I know how difficult it is.

And I want them to have the reassurance that we are here to keep supporting people as we reopen the economy.

Ridge also asked if the dates given in the government's roadmap stood a chance of being brought forward.

...