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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jon Ungoed-Thomas

Matt Hancock leaks lead to cover-up fears over ‘eat out to help out’ scheme

Rishi Sunak, as chancellor, promoting his eat out to help out scheme which is being blamed for helping to spread Covid.
Rishi Sunak, as chancellor, promoting his eat out to help out scheme, which has been blamed for helping to spread Covid. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA

Rishi Sunak faces calls for an inquiry into whether Treasury officials buried or ignored evidence that his £849m “eat out to help out” scheme fuelled the spread of the pandemic.

Officials dismissed a Warwick University study in October 2020 that said Sunak’s initiative may have caused a significant rise in Covid-19 infections. The report estimated 8%-17% of detected new clusters could be linked to the scheme.

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