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Conservative leadership contender Rishi Sunak on Thursday issued a scathing criticism of the UK government\u2019s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that scientific advisers were given too much authority in decision making. <\/p>\n
Sunak, who served as chancellor from February 2020 to July 2022, told the Spectator magazine that\u00a0during the pandemic there was little discussion at the top of government surrounding the potential negative impacts of successive lockdowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe script was: oh, there\u2019s no trade-off, because doing this for our health is good for the economy,\u201d he said, adding that he at times had got \u201cemotional\u201d when discussing the effect of restrictions on the education system. \u201cWe didn\u2019t talk at all about missed [doctor\u2019s] appointments, or the backlog building in the NHS in a massive way,\u201d Sunak added.<\/p>\n
Sunak and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, are due to appear in front of Conservative party members on Thursday evening in Norwich for the penultimate hustings of the leadership election. Members have until September 2 to cast their ballot, with the new prime minister announced on September 5. <\/p>\n
Truss has been consistently leading in opinion polls throughout the campaign. The latest survey from the Conservative Home website revealed that 60 per cent of Tory members were planning to back Truss compared with 28 per cent in favour of Sunak. <\/p>\n
The former chancellor said that one of the key lessons from lockdown was that the government \u201cshouldn\u2019t have empowered the scientists in the way we did\u201d, adding that there was little clarity given to ministers about how the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies calculated their scenarios on hospitalisations and deaths.<\/p>\n
Sunak claims were supported by Mark Harper, former chief whip and chair of the Covid Recovery Group, who on Thursday argued that valid questions needed to be raised throughout the pandemic, but \u201cdissenting voices were not allowed\u201d within government. <\/p>\n
Speaking to LBC, Harper who is backing the former chancellor, said: \u201cWhen I raised questions \u2014 and we questioned the modelling \u2014 people in Number 10 briefed out to journalists that we deliberately wanted to kill thousands of people, which was clearly nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe were simply asking questions to get better decisions, and I\u2019m pleased that Rishi Sunak shone a bit of a light on what was going on in government at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n