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

Rishi Sunak faces calls for inquiry into whether medical evidence was ignored before the launch of his £849m initiative

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.