The British economy is teetering on a precipice. While inevitably the public’s immediate attention - and that of ministers - has been on the health impacts of Covid-19, economic decisions taken in the coming days and weeks could define a generation or more, by determining just how damaging and prolonged the aftershock proves to be.
For Greater Manchester, the worst-case scenario could mean the brutal reversal of a delicate revival. Much of the conurbation’s prominence nationally in recent years has been based on its economy - or at least elements of it - emerging from the doldrums that hit when industry last collapsed in the 1970s and 1980s.