Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives an update on the plan to “stop the boats” and illegal migration during a press conference in the Downing Street Briefing Room in London on Dec. 7, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended Britain’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on December 11, telling an official inquiry he did not recognise testimony describing a dysfunctional government and saying his hospitality scheme was supported at the time.
The inquiry is examining Britain’s response to the pandemic which killed more than 2,30,000 people in the country. It has heard that the government of then-prime minister Boris Johnson was gripped by infighting and incompetence, and unable to make a decision.
Mr. Sunak was a relatively unknown politician when he was promoted to Finance Minister on the eve of the pandemic, appearing to be sure-footed as he set out hundreds of billions of pounds of support to keep companies and livelihoods afloat.
He has come under fire during the inquiry so far from other witnesses over his “Eat Out to Help Out” subsidised meal scheme, which encouraged people to visit restaurants and pubs in August 2020.
Some scientists have questioned whether Mr. Sunak’s policy may have contributed to a wave of infections, but Mr. Sunak said scientists and other ministers did not raise any objections during meetings in the month leading up to the scheme.
He said that “Eat out to help out” took place within guidelines for the safe re-opening of hospitality which had happened in July and that was why the policy went ahead.
“My primary concern was protecting millions of jobs of particularly vulnerable people who worked in this industry (hospitality),” Mr. Sunak told the inquiry.
The inquiry has also heard testimony from scientists and officials who questioned whether Mr. Sunak prioritised the economy over public health, as economic output contracted by 10% in 2020.
He told the inquiry on December 11 that he wanted to say how “deeply sorry” he was to those who had lost loved ones, and that he was there in the spirit of wanting to learn how the government could do better in any future pandemic.
But he echoed Mr. Johnson in saying the fact that “debates raged” was not necessarily a bad thing.
“It’s right that there was vigorous debate because these were incredibly consequential decisions for tens of millions of people in all spheres, whether it was health, whether it’s education, whether it was economic, whether it was social, whether it was a long-term impact.
“These were incredibly big decisions, the likes of which no prime minister has taken in decades, if ever,” he said.
U.K. lawmakers in Sunak’s party say Rwanda bill not tough enough
Mr. Sunak’s attempt to get his flagship immigration policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda back on track suffered another blow on December 11 when lawmakers in his party said a planned emergency law was not tough enough.
Right-wing lawmakers in Britain’s Conservative Party said the government’s legislation only provided a “partial and incomplete solution” to the problem of deportations being stopped by legal challenges.
Last month, the U.K. Supreme Court declared the scheme to deport thousands of migrants to Rwanda unlawful, saying the east African nation could not be considered a safe third country.
In response, Mr. Sunak agreed a new treaty with Rwanda and brought forward emergency legislation designed to overcome domestic and international law which would prevent deportations.