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You can watch the broadcast of today’s hearing in this feed, which is also attached to the top of the blog. We are expecting Sunak to appear in about ten minutes or so:
The Covid inquiry, which, according to the IFS, is likely to end up costing in excess of £200m, got under way in 2022 and its final report is not expected until 2027.
It covers decision-making by the UK government, and the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, across a range of topics, including procurement, the care sector, children and young people, vaccines and the impact the pandemic had on the healthcare system.
Rishi Sunak will be grilled on the government’s economic response (module 9).
Just under 227,000 people in the UK died with Covid-19 listed as one of the causes on their death certificate between March 2020 and May 2023.
The pandemic caused a severe recession, with a huge drop in GDP during the first national lockdown in 2020.
As part of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, known as furlough, the government subsidised the wages of employees hit by the pandemic as sectors – such as hospitality, nightclubs and the travel industry – closed down to prevent the virus from spreading.
This massive level of state intervention covered about 11.7 million jobs between March 2020 and September 2021, at a cost of roughly £70bn.
The Covid inquiry has previously heard that furlough is estimated to have directly preserved four million jobs across the UK workforce.
The Treasury has estimated that total spending by the government across all its support measures amounted to £373bn.
Rishi Sunak to face questions on economic impact of the Covid pandemic
Former British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is to give evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry today as it looks into the government’s economic response to the pandemic.
Sunak, who was chancellor at the height of the pandemic, has previously defended his “eat out to help out” scheme, rolled out in the summer of 2020, saying it prevented job losses.
He has denied that the £850m policy – which gave diners a state-funded £10 discount – drove a second wave of Covid infections, despite research showing it caused a rise of between 8% and 17%, while the economic benefits of the scheme were short-lived.
Sunak is due to be questioned between 10.30am and 4.30pm (with a lunch break), so stick with us as we provide you with the latest lines. We will have a feed attached to the top of the blog shortly.
