Chancellor Rishi Sunak defended his Eat Out to Help Out scheme from suggestions it helped increase coronavirus infection rates.
He denied that was the case and told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “Areas where Eat Out to Help Out was used the most, for example in the South West, were the slowest to see any rise and in fact had very low infection rates.
“And almost all other major countries have had rises over the autumn and winter and they didn’t have Eat Out to Help Out so I think it’s a bit odd to ascribe causality in that way.”
Asked if support packages would be wound up as restrictions were eased, Mr Sunak told Sky News: “Well I think it’s right that the support aligns with the road map, so the PM’s road map has a path on which we will slowly reopen our economy and we want to make sure that our support, supports people along that path and that’s what you will see on Wednesday… protecting and supporting and creating jobs is my number one economic priority.”
Asked if the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit would be removed, he said: “Budget on Wednesday, there’s a place where we’ll set out all of our next stages of our response, but I know that that uplift has made a difference to people over the past 12 months.
“It’s one part of a comprehensive plan that we’ve put in place to protect people, particularly those on low incomes, and looking forward we can point to the fact that we’re increasing the national living wage next year by above inflation, which will mean almost a £350 pay rise for someone working full time on the national living wage.”
