A recent inquiry into Britain’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that Rishi Sunak believed that the government should “just let people die” rather than impose a second national lockdown.
The concerning statement by Rishi Sunak was quoted in a hearing on Monday about UK’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down large sections of the economy and killed more than 220,000. The explosive claim was made by Patrick Vallance, the former chief scientific adviser to the government. He claimed that the then-finance minister Sunak said during a meeting with then-prime minister Boris Johnson, that the government should “just let people die” rather than impose a second national lockdown.
Vallance noted this down in a meeting in his diary on October 25, 2020, which was presented to the inquiry on Monday. The incident was relayed to him by Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s most senior adviser during the pandemic, relayed to Vallance what he had heard at the meeting.
Vallance quoted Cummings in his diary as saying: “Rishi thinks just let people die and that’s okay. This all feels like a complete lack of leadership.”
According to a spokesperson for Sunak, the prime minister would set out his position when he gives evidence to the inquiry “rather than respond to each one in piecemeal”
