Small firms in Sheffield battling the coronavirus thrown lifeline in the Budget

Drew Woodhouse, lecturer in economics at Sheffield Hallam University, said a £30bn stimulus package - which includes a business rates holiday for firms in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, £3,000 grants and a refund of sick pay for two weeks - would help them weather the storm of coronavirus and Brexit.

Longer term, increasing investment in research to £22bn-a-year and several new schemes - including £800m on a ‘blue skies funding agency’ - would help boost productivity.

And plans for a new campus in the North focused on ‘economic decision making’, with staff from the Treasury, DIT, BEIS and MHCLG, were a welcome nod to ‘levelling up’.

Mr Woodhouse said it was a budget “like we’ve never seen before.”

He added: “It’s an emergency budget. You can’t help but think some of the big ticket infrastructure items that might have been on there have been moved to later in the year.”

The Chancellor told the House of Commons that the spread of the virus would cause “temporary disruption” to the UK economy.

He said: “We will get through this together. The British people are worried but they are not daunted. There is likely to be a temporary disruption to our economy.

“For a period, our production capacity will shrink.”

In South Yorkshire, there was disappointment as city region Mayor Dan Jarvis’ bid for £220m from the Transforming Cities fund fell short, receiving £166m to improve transport links and create a new tram stop at Magna on the Rotherham line.

The Chancellor also announced £5.2bn for flood defences over the next six years, which should bring some relief to communities such as Fishlake in Doncaster which were inundated recently.

Over the course of the five-year parliament, the Government will spend more than £600bn on capital investment in infrastructure – the largest spending commitment of its kind in decades. It will cover road, rail and digital infrastructure and will also see £2.5bn made available to fix potholes.

However, analysts are already asking how the extra spending will be paid for, pointing out that it will almost certainly lead to a big increase in Government borrowing. The Adam Smith Institute said the Government was “spending like drunken sailors”.

Toby Harper, boss of Harper James Solicitors, said he was pleased to see policies that would help improve connections between north and south.

“For too long businesses operating in regions outside London have had to make do with Cinderella-standards of services compared to those which exist in the capital. The Government’s commitment on transport and connectivity schemes north of London is vitally needed.

“Too much focus of late has been on the impact HS2 could have. But companies need better broadband, trains and road-networks right now, not in 20 years’ time.”

The British Business Bank will receive an extra £220m to lend to scale-up companies.