Watch live: Rishi Sunak gives evidence to Covid-19 inquiry
Watch Rishi Sunak give evidence live at the Covid-19 inquiry on Monday (December 15) as the inquiry investigates the government’s response to the pandemic.
The former prime minister was chancellor at the height of the pandemic. He chaired the discounted Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which scientists say is “most likely” to increase Covid infections and deaths.
Mr Sunak has previously defended the plan, describing it as a “micro policy” within the government’s overall plans for reopening after lockdown.
In previous evidence to the inquiry, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said the government had “completely reversed” its message that mixing was high risk.
It comes after a damning report into pandemic decision-making revealed the chaos at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government and its failure to take Covid seriously has led to 23,000 deaths.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry also found that then-prime minister and chief adviser Dominic Cummings presided over a “toxic and chaotic culture” at the heart of No 10 where women’s views were ignored.
The report found that more than 20,000 lives could have been saved in England if the lockdown had been implemented just a week earlier, in March 2020.
