Patrick Vallance contradicts Rishi Sunak’s evidence to Covid inquiry

Rishi Sunak would almost certainly have known scientists were worried about his “eat out to help out” scheme during the pandemic, Sir Patrick Vallance has said, directly contradicting the prime minister’s evidence to the Covid inquiry. In potentially damaging testimony, Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, said he would be “very surprised” if Sunak, then chancellor, had not learned about objections to his plan to help the hospitality industry. Sunak had written to the inquiry saying he “[did] not recall any concerns about the scheme” being raised in ministerial meetings despite growing concerns that the discount plan could fuel the spread of the virus. An extract from Vallance’s contemporaneous diary, in July 2020, provided evidence that Sunak also sought to push back against the scientists’ advice. In one economics-based meeting, Sunak said “it’s all about handling the scientists, not handling the virus”, the entry said. Vallance said: “There were definitely periods when it was clear that the unwelcome advice we were giving was, as expected, not beloved, and that meant we had to work doubly hard to make sure that the science evidence and advice was being properly heard.” In other evidence, Vallance said Boris Johnson at times struggled to follow basic scientific concepts crucial to Covid, such as the impacts of lockdown on waves of infection, and had to have them explained repeatedly.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/20/patrick-vallance-contradicts-rishi-sunak-evidence-to-covid-enquiry

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