Rishi Sunak revealed on Monday that medical officials advised ministers against implementing Covid restrictions "too early" due to concerns about public acceptance. The former Chancellor told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that experts feared people would not comply with measures if introduced prematurely.
Sunak's testimony comes as the inquiry examines the government's pandemic response. Last month, inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett concluded the UK acted "too late" and described February 2020 as a "lost month". She previously stated that a week-long delay in introducing the first lockdown resulted in 23,000 additional deaths in England.
Early Pandemic Strategy
The former Chancellor described the rapidly evolving nature of early pandemic advice. He told the inquiry: "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 with the various interventions. Because they were worried about public acceptance of them and they needed to maintain a duration. They were quite focused on getting the timing right."
Scientists initially believed that 75 per cent compliance with voluntary social distancing and school closures would suffice to manage the virus. Sunak explained: "Even at that point, there was a belief that that voluntary social distancing, together with school closures [...] would be sufficient to manage the virus."
However, this assessment changed within days. "And then two or three days after that was said, it was decided that wasn't going to be achievable, which is why we had to move to a full mandatory lockdown", he said.
Economic Response Defence
Sunak defended the government's economic measures during his second appearance before the inquiry. He claimed the government "prevented mass unemployment" through interventions like the furlough scheme, which cost around £70 billion and supported approximately 11.7 million jobs.
The former Chancellor acknowledged the government couldn't save every person's job. "It wasn't going to be possible to save every person's job and people were going to experience economic hardship as a result of what was happening", he told the inquiry. "I thought it was important to be honest with people about that up front."
He expressed pride in the outcomes for vulnerable communities. "As it turned out, the impact on living standards, particularly for the most vulnerable in society... were stronger than I would have perhaps anticipated going into this and I'm very proud of that", Sunak said. He described the impact on jobs as "considerably better than what anyone had forecast at the early stages of the pandemic".
Furlough Scheme Assessment
The inquiry's counsel, Richard Wright KC, stated the investigation received "generally positive evidence" about the furlough scheme, which ran from March 2020 to September 2021. Wright noted the scheme helped prevent an "increase in inequality because of its preservation of jobs".
Sunak, who became Chancellor in mid-February 2020 and is former prime minister, is testifying as part of Module 9 of the inquiry, which focuses on the government's economic response to the pandemic. The inquiry concludes in summer 2026.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
