Rishi Sunak’s Eating Out to Help Out scheme is being scrutinized by top government scientists this week as part of an official inquiry into the Covid pandemic.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance are due to appear at the inquest and are expected to say whether they were properly consulted over a scheme that gave the public a 50 per cent discount on restaurant bills after the UK’s first lockdown was eased.
Treasury policy was aimed at stimulating the economy in August 2020, when Sunak was Chancellor. However, studies have shown that the coronavirus spread faster in areas with many participating restaurants, and that the number of infections in those areas dropped after the plan ended.
Sir Patrick, the government’s former chief scientific adviser, will give evidence at the one-day hearing on Monday. Excerpts from his personal diaries, some of which have already been revealed to the inquiry, have already exposed divisions at the heart of Downing Street as the virus sweeps the country. More devastating details are likely to follow about then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the pandemic.
Baroness Hallett’s inquiry previously described Sir Patrick as “chaos at Number 10 as always” and at another time Johnson’s government was “disorderly and completely incoherent”.
The diaries also revealed that Sir Patrick and Sir Chris, England’s chief medical officer, were unaware of Mr Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme before it was launched in August 2020. Two government advisers said in their original evidence: “Had they been consulted about the plan at the time, they would have advised against it as they suspected it would increase Covid transmission at a crucial time in the fight against the virus. ” Great Britain.
Sir Chris and Sir Patrick often accompanied Johnson to Downing Street’s daily coronavirus briefings and have become household names during the pandemic. Sir Chris will attend the day ahead of the inquest on Tuesday. The couple are likely to face criticism as evidence has already emerged that they appear to have been more vocal about their Covid pandemic warnings in private than in public.
For example, on 6 February 2020, Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser, told a WhatsApp group of No 10 advisers that Sir Patrick had just told him that the virus was “probably out of control now and sweeping the world”. “. However, on 25 February 2020, Sir Chris and Sir Patrick told reporters that evidence from China suggested that containing the virus was still possible.
On Wednesday, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, former deputy chief medical officer and current chief scientific adviser, Professor Dame Angela McLean, whom Rishi Sunak called “doctor” in the weeks after the restaurant program launched. Death” will face investigation.
Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak are expected to be called before the inquiry in early December when they will defend their tenure and their handling of the pandemic.
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.