UK Minister Rishi Sunak says further lockdown would 'cripple economy and society'

The United Kingdom finance minister Rishi Sunak has said that a further lockdown would not only cripple the country's economy but would also devastate society. Sunak, while speaking to The Sun newspaper, said that any future lockdown would have a strong economic and social impact, expressing his dissatisfaction with the 10 p.m. curfew on pubs and restaurants. Sunak cautioned against a shutdown adding that it will hamper the long-term future of the country. 

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"Lockdowns obviously have a very strong economic impact, but they have an impact on many other things. We have to look at this all in the round and beating coronavirus is important and minimising the harm that it causes is important. But there are other things that are important. Kids not being in school for months... if university students’ learning is impacted that’s not a good thing. People not showing up for medical appointments because they are worried is not a good thing," Sunak told the English daily. 

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Sunak on Eat Out to Help Out scheme

Sunak also said that he has no regrets about his Eat Out to Help Out scheme that was launched to help the hospitality sector in the country. He defended his scheme saying that it helped save nearly 2 million jobs. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson on October 4 had acknowledged that the scheme may have helped spread the COVID-19 in the UK. But Sunak pointed to the low number of COVID cases in South West, claiming that the region made the most use of the scheme. 

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Sunak also defended Boris Johnson's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and dismissed claims that the PM is suffering from long-term effects from his own COVID battle in April. Sunak said that Boris Johnson is making tough decisions about the virus fight adding that he sits with him daily in meetings and sees how he make those decisions that would "break most people". The United Kingdom has over 5,00,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 42,000 deaths, according to the country's health department.

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