Crisis-hit Sunak facing tough questions over Eat Out to Help Out at Covid inquiry

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will face the Covid inquiry on Monday when he will be quizzed about his time as Chancellor during the pandemic.

One of the most controversial policies Mr Sunak will be questioned on is his Eat Out To Help Out scheme, which offered mid-week half-price food and drink at selected restaurants in August 2020.

Concerns have been repeatedly raised over the impact of the policy, with several senior scientists telling the inquiry it is likely to have contributed to a rise in coronavirus cases in subsequent months.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the former government chief scientific adviser, told the inquiry that the Eat Out To Help Out scheme almost certainly drove a second wave of Covid cases in the UK.

Professor Dame Angela McLean, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, also referred to him as “Dr Death the chancellor” in reference to the scheme in WhatsApp messages seen by the inquiry.

In his written statement Mr Sunak said that neither Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, nor Sir Patrick raised any concerns about Eat Out To Help Out when it was launched.

But Professor Whitty, Sir Patrick, Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, the former deputy chief medical officer, and former health secretary Matt Hancock have all testified at the inquiry that they were not consulted or informed in advance about the scheme.

Mr Sunak will likely be questioned, therefore, on what advice he sought about the impacts of the scheme before it was announced in July 2020.

He is expected to claim that Eat Out To Help Out boosted the work prospects of women and ethnic minorities, a defence which featured in Boris Johnson’s evidence.

The former prime minister said last week that he discussed the policy with Mr Sunak, and that the pair were “acutely conscious” that women had been disproportionately affected by the lockdown and were more likely to be working in the hospitality sector.

Help for those on low income will be another area on which Mr Sunak will be scrutinised, after the inquiry heard that the then-chancellor had rejected advice from Professor Whitty that workers should be paid to self-isolate to limit the spread of the virus.

Scientific advisers had warned for weeks that people on low salaries were reluctant to self-isolate because they often had to rely on statutory sick pay alone, which at the time was around only £94.25 a week.

Another area of questioning for the Prime Minister will be whether he was sceptical of lockdowns after he claimed in an August 2022 interview that scientists were too “empowered” during the pandemic and created a “fear narrative”.

The article, published in The Spectator, has reportedly been submitted as evidence to the inquiry, according to the Daily Mail.

Diary entries by Sir Patrick also claimed that, in 2021, Mr Sunak pushed “very hard for faster opening up and fuller opening up” and was opposed to coronavirus restrictions.

Mr Sunak is also likely to be quizzed about missing WhatsApp messages, which the Prime Minister said were lost because he had changed phones several times and the messages had not been backed up.

Downing Street refused to comment ahead of Mr Sunak’s appearance but a Government source said the Prime Minister was taking the inquiry “very seriously”.