Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, March 1, and this is your F-T news briefing.

The head of the European Commission is preparing for more pandemics after this one,

and Japan is pushing for more change to its corporate culture. Plus,

Lucid Motors listing isn't just the biggest back deal we've ever seen,

the company could also give Tesla a run for its money. But first, a look at the UK's budget.

I said at the beginning of this crisis, I would do whatever it took to protect people,

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

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

That was UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak we just heard from. He was speaking on Sky TV yesterday,

and he added that more help for Britain's pandemic-stricken retailers is on the way.

To talk about this week's budget announcement, and joined by the F-T's political editor, George Parker,

you just interviewed Chancellor Sunak last week. What can we look forward to with this budget?

I think the first thing that Rishi Sunak will be trying to do in his budget, this is his second

budget, will be setting out short-term measures to see the British economy through to what they hope

will be the end of the pandemic. So this is leading up to the date, June 21, loosely called

Freedom Day, when the government hopes that all remaining coronavirus restrictions will be removed.

So until that point, Rishi Sunak is going to be throwing billions of pounds more at the economy,

and at supporting jobs to keep the economy ticking over. But after that, there's a separate question

which is the bill will come in at some points, and Rishi Sunak is going to be absolutely clear

that at some point taxes will have to rise to start repaying some of the money that he's been

borrowing over this last very expensive year. In based on your conversation with him last week,

what are Sunak's expectations when it comes to the UK's economy in the long term?

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