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The Prime Minister insisted his Eat Out to Help Out scheme protected workers from the \u201cdevastating consequences\u201d of job losses.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He told the Covid Inquiry yesterday he still believed it was the \u201cright thing to do to protect\u201d millions of jobs held by employees who would have suffered badly if they had lost their income.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak said: \u201cAll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was asked if he was aware of the \u201cdeath squad\u201d description being used by some No10 officials to refer to the department being opposed to maximum public health interventions.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak replied: \u201cI wasn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also defended Boris Johnson\u2019s handling of Covid as he revealed he \u201csaw the prime minister probably more than I saw my own wife\u201d during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak said he was \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d for those who lost loved ones and insisted it was vital that lessons are learnt so the country is better prepared in the future.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson has faced fierce criticism from aides at the inquiry on the way he led the Government.<\/p>\n
But Mr Sunak dismissed claims that his former boss had a reputation for \u201coscillating\u201d when making big decisions.<\/p>\n
He insisted there was \u201cnothing wrong\u201d with his approach. He added: \u201cIt\u2019s not surprising that that happens \u2013 and I don\u2019t think it is a bad thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows that someone is engaging with the process and hearing from different people before getting to a final decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak told the inquiry \u2013 sitting in Paddington, West London, where there were protesters outside, below right \u2013 he always felt able to make his views known to Mr Johnson. \u201cWe were working very closely together as I was with my other Cabinet colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd 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.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhether 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.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n