Rishi Sunak denies saying it was ‘OK’ to ‘just let people die’ of Covid
The suggestion appeared in pandemic diaries shared with the Covid inquiry by former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
Rishi Sunak has denied saying it was “OK” to let people die of coronavirus.
The Prime Minister was asked about a diary entry by Sir Patrick Vallance, who was the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, that was shared with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
The extract from October 25 2020 read that Boris Johnson, when he was prime minister, had argued for “letting” Covid “rip” through the population as ministers debated a second lockdown in England.
During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq said she was “shocked that Downing Street didn’t categorically deny” the comments when asked about them by reporters last week.
Mr Sunak said he looked forward to providing his own evidence to the inquiry as he denied making the remark.
Replying to Ms Siddiq, the Prime Minister said: “If she had taken the time to actually read the evidence submitted to the inquiry, she will have seen that the person she mentioned, the chief scientific adviser, confirmed he did not hear me say that.
“And that is because I didn’t.”
Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson are both expected to give evidence to the inquiry before Christmas.
