The Prime Minister insisted his Eat Out to Help Out scheme protected workers from the “devastating consequences” of job losses.
Mr Sunak set up the discount food offer, which has been criticised by scientists for fuelling the spread of the virus in the summer of 2020, as a lifeline for the ailing hospitality sector.
He told the Covid Inquiry yesterday he still believed it was the “right thing to do to protect” millions of jobs held by employees who would have suffered badly if they had lost their income.
Mr Sunak said: “All the data, all the evidence, all the polling, all the input from those companies suggested that, unless we did something, many of those jobs would have been at risk with devastating consequences for those people and their families.”
He was asked if he was aware of the “death squad” description being used by some No10 officials to refer to the department being opposed to maximum public health interventions.
Mr Sunak replied: “I wasn’t and I do not think it is a fair characterisation on the incredibly hardworking people that I was lucky to be supported by at the Treasury.”
He also defended Boris Johnson’s handling of Covid as he revealed he “saw the prime minister probably more than I saw my own wife” during the pandemic.
Mr Sunak said he was “deeply sorry” for those who lost loved ones and insisted it was vital that lessons are learnt so the country is better prepared in the future.
Mr Johnson has faced fierce criticism from aides at the inquiry on the way he led the Government.
But Mr Sunak dismissed claims that his former boss had a reputation for “oscillating” when making big decisions.
He insisted there was “nothing wrong” with his approach. He added: “It’s not surprising that that happens – and I don’t think it is a bad thing.
“It shows that someone is engaging with the process and hearing from different people before getting to a final decision.”
Mr Sunak told the inquiry – sitting in Paddington, West London, where there were protesters outside, below right – he always felt able to make his views known to Mr Johnson. “We were working very closely together as I was with my other Cabinet colleagues.
“And as a general rule, I was able to participate in everything that I felt I needed to in order to get the evidence, analysis, to him in a way that he could use it to make decisions.” Mr Sunak claimed it was right that there was vigorous debate because the
decisions being taken had significant consequences for tens of millions of people.
He said: “Whether it was health, education, economic, social or the long-term impact, these were incredibly big decisions, the likes of which no prime minister had taken in decades, if ever.” Mr Sunak argued the advice and recommendations made by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, made up ofscientific experts, was largely what the Government acted on.
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Quizzed by lead counsel Hugo Keith KC about why he had not given the inquiry access to WhatsApp communications, the PM said it was because he had changed his phone “multiple times over the last few years”.
Mr Sunak pushed for shops to reopen before schools in the first lockdown, the inquiry heard.
He said at the time he wanted schools to be opened “alongside or immediately after non-essential retail and before hospitality”.
The PM also said the record-high tax burden the country faces today is as a result of lockdown borrowing. He added: “It’s clear that, as a result of what was happening, the economy was being impacted.
“We were able to borrow what we needed. I am grappling with the consequences of that.”
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