U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak rejected the idea that his flagship program to give people discounts on going to restaurants helped spread the coronavirus over the summer.
“I would be, I guess, cautious about jumping to simplistic conclusions,” Sunak said on Sky News on Tuesday, defending a program that was central to the Treasury’s efforts to protect hospitality jobs. “It’s incredibly difficult to pinpoint at such a granular level exactly the cause of transmission.”
On Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr program that the initiative -- which paid people up to 10 pounds ($13) per person for a meal in a restaurant in a bid to boost the hospitality sector -- might have helped the transmission of the disease.
“Insofar as that scheme may have helped to spread the virus, obviously we need to counteract that and we need to counteract that with the discipline and the measures that we’re proposing,” Johnson said.
But Sunak did not see a cause-and-effect relationship. He said that incidence of the virus has been lower in areas like southwest England, where there was significant take-up of the offer.
Virus Resurgence
The government is now trying to suppress a resurgence of the virus as the country heads into the winter months, including by imposing new restrictions on hospitality.
Sunak Sees ‘Hard Choices’ With Warning on U.K. Expenditure
Sunak told BBC TV on Monday that a 10 p.m. curfew on pubs and restaurants “could” help slow transmission, a half-hearted endorsement of a policy that’s sparked the ire of rank-and-file Conservative members of Parliament ahead of an expected vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The Big Three
Income tax, VAT and NICs together account for 60% of total U.K. revenue
Source: Office for Budget Responsibility, Treasury calculations
Note: estimates published on March 11, therefore do not reflect impact of lockdown and stimulus measures on tax receipts
In a series of morning interviews, Sunak told told BBC radio ministers “fully intend to deliver” on the Tory party’s manifesto promises -- though he declined to specifically reiterate the pledge not to raise income tax, VAT or National Insurance. Economists say it will be difficult to raise significant amounts of tax revenue without touching the three levies.
Sunak also:
- Told LBC radio there won’t be a budget this year but there will be one by the start of April
- Told the BBC his priority for now is protecting jobs, but that after the pandemic, his attention will shift to getting the public finances in order
- Told BBC TV that the alternative to local lockdown measures would be “blanket national interventions” which “clearly wouldn’t be appropriate and we should try and avoid that if we can”
- Defended his social media branding on Sky, saying “I want people to know what we’re up to so that they can question it”
- Said he doesn’t “envy” Johnson doing his job. Asked on TalkRadio about his greater public popularity than Johnson’s, he remarked: “I wouldn’t get carried away with very short term things; What goes up, comes down, that’s inevitable in life”
- Told TalkRadio it’s “sad” to see the once “thriving” London reduced to “a shadow of its former self” because of the pandemic
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October 06, 2020 at 01:46PM
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