Sunak denies calling poor parents ‘freeloaders’ at Covid inquiry
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Rishi Sunak is facing questions at the Covid-19 inquiry on Monday as the probe into the government’s response to the pandemic continues.
The former prime minister, who was chancellor at the height of the pandemic, presided over the discounted dining Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which scientists said was “highly likely” to have increased Covid infections and deaths.
Giving evidence to the inquiry previously, Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said it had “completely reversed” the government’s messaging that mixing was high-risk.
Mr Sunak defended the scheme, calling it a “micro-policy” within the government’s overall plans to reopen after lockdown.
He was also quoted as saying the government should “just let people die” during the pandemic rather than impose a second national lockdown.
On Monday, he is expected to answer further questions over his policies and reports of a “toxic” climate in Downing Street.
The inquiry will examine the government’s response to the pandemic, which shut large sections of the economy and killed more than 220,000 people in Britain. It is due to run until the summer of 2026.
Ministers were warned not to bring in Covid interventions too early, Sunak says
The Independent’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
One of the most damning aspects of last month’s report into Covid was the finding that lockdown had been brought in too late.
But the former chancellor told the inquiry that ministers were being warned at the start of the pandemic not to bring in interventions “too early”.
“I remember clearly at that time, especially those early conversations, a lot of what the medical and scientific community were advising us was not to go too early because… they were worried about public, I think, acceptance of them, and they needed to maintain a duration – and so that they were quite focused on getting the timing right,” Rishi Sunak said.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 11:12
Clear hope pandemic would be short, Mr Sunak tells inquiry
The former chancellor has said there was a “clear” hope the pandemic would be a short economic shock during the initial days of government response.
Rishi Sunak told the inquiry public health officials warned him not to “go too early” on lockdown measures as they were worried about “public acceptance” of them.
“They were quite focused on getting the timing right. It was important not to go to early as these things need to be maintained for a period of time,” he said.
He added the health advice was changing “every couple of days” – going from hoping Covid may pass quickly, to later understanding it would be a longer-term emergency.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 11:08
Treasury ‘could not drive conversation’, Mr Sunak says
Rishi Sunak has said the treasury “couldn’t drive the conversation” during the early days of Covid.
He said the response was largely driven by the Department for Health, and that his treasury took advice from scientific advisers.
It was a “rapidly evolving health situation” to which he needed to have an “agile” and “iterative” approach, Mr Sunak continued.
He added the first few weeks of the Covid response was an “incredibly intense period” that felt like doing a new Budget every two days.
“You just had to focus on the problem in front of you, run at it, solve it, and just keep going,” he said.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 11:03
‘We weren’t going to get everything right straight away,” Mr Sunak says
Rishi Sunak has said his team was forced to work at speed with an understanding we “weren’t going to get everything right straight away”.
“Everyone recognised we didn’t have the luxury of time,” he said.
He added he did not want to let “perfect be the enemy of good”.
But he said it required a recognition that not everything would be perfect, but that everyone “should have been comfortable” with that during the pandemic.
He said policymakers had learned an “enormous amount” through the pandemic, but warned against trying to develop a playbook for any potential future crises.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 10:55
‘Enormous amount of uncertainty,’ Mr Sunak tells inquiry
Rishi Sunak has told the Covid-19 inquiry he was dealing with an “enormous amount of uncertainty” at the start of the pandemic.
Mr Sunak says that was the “number one challenge” he faced as chancellor in March 2020.
He extended his thanks for the “extraordinary effort” of advisers and civil servants working during the time.
“We knew there was going to be an economic shock, our understanding was that it was going to be temporary,” he said.
“What we were focused on doing was making sure the temporary shock did not have long-term economic consequences.”
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 10:50
Rishi Sunak sends condolences to relatives of those who died during the pandemic after damning report said more than 20,000 lives could have been saved
The Independent’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Speaking at the start of giving evidence to the official inquiry, the man who was the chancellor during the pandemic said that he wanted to extend his condolences “to all those who lost loved ones during Covid”.
A damning report by the inquiry last month found chaos at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government and his failure to take Covid seriously led to 23,000 deaths.
The report concluded 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.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 10:41
Rishi Sunak begins giving evidence
Rishi Sunak has begun his evidence to the inquiry.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 10:34
Watch live: Rishi Sunak gives evidence to Covid-19 inquiry
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 10:30
Rishi Sunak set to give evidence shortly
The Covid inquiry is set to resume from 10:30am, with Rishi Sunak’s evidence expected to be first on the agenda.
We will be bringing you all the latest in this blog.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 10:20
Covid prompted ‘historic shock’ to UK economy, ONS says
The Covid-19 pandemic prompted an “historic shock” to the UK economy, as the country saw the biggest fall in GDP since records began.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that between April and June 2020, the height of the first national lockdown, GDP fell by a record 19.4 per cent before rebounding 17.6 per cent as the country reopened over the summer.
Household spending fell by over 20 per cent over this period, which was driven by falls in spending on restaurants, hotels, transport and recreation.
The first national Covid lockdown was imposed across the UK on March 24 2020 (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Archive)
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 December 2025 10:15
