PM: Eat Out To Help Out Saved Staff From Devastating Job Losses

RISHI Sunak dismissed claims the Treasury was a "pro-death squad" for resisting the highest levels of pandemic restrictions while he was Chancellor.

- Sam Lister

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 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 Eat C HELP O interventions.

Mr Sunak replied: "I wasn't and I do not think it is a fair characterization on the incredibly hardworking people that I was lucky to be supported by at the Treasury."