Rishi Sunak defends Eat Out to Help Out scheme saying it was 'right thing to do'

Rishi Sunak defended his controversial Eat Out to Help Out scheme as he gave evidence to the Covid inquiry today, insisting that it protected workers from the "devastating consequences" of job losses.

The scheme was launched by the Prime Minister in summer 2020, when he was the chancellor, to support the hospitality sector following lockdown. The scheme has been scrutinised by the UK Covid-19 Inquiry for possibly contributing to the spread of infection.

Mr Sunak said he still believed the scheme was the "right thing to do" to protect jobs. He stated: "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."

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The plan was part of Mr Sunak's economic update in July 2020, offering 50 per cent off food and non-alcoholic drinks. The announcement surprised scientific advisers, who claimed they were not aware of it ahead of the announcement.

Professor Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, reportedly referred to the scheme to boost restaurants as "eat out to help out the virus" in private. Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's former chief scientific adviser, had previously told the inquiry that the scheme was "highly likely" to have fuelled deaths.

When asked about the scheme by lead counsel Hugo Keith KC, Mr Sunak said no one raised these concerns with him, even though there was a month gap between the announcement of the scheme and its start date. He stated