The former chancellor hit out at the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), telling The Spectator that members had too much influence on government decision-making during the COVID crisis. He claims he was banned from discussing the negative side effects of lockdown restrictions, such as the NHS backlog and exam chaos, and that the minutes of SAGE meetings often edited out dissenting voices. Decisions during the pandemic were usually made after analysis was presented to ministers indicating scary “scenarios” that would happen without a lockdown, he said, but it was not clear “how these very important scenarios had been calculated”. Politics Hub: Minister throws cold water on cost of living assistance proposal Mr Sunak said: “We didn’t talk about lost at all [doctor’s] appointment or the building backlog in the NHS in a massive way. That was never part of it. “Whoever wrote the minutes for SAGE meetings – condensing their discussions into guidance for government – would set the nation’s policy. “No one, not even cabinet members, would know how these decisions were made.” The Tory leadership candidate suggested No 10’s reluctance to present its policies as “following the science” meant SAGE was given too much power to make decisions and that this was wrong. “We should not have empowered the scientists the way we did,” he said. But the former director of communications at Number 10 during the pandemic said Mr Sunak was “simply wrong”. Lee Cain tweeted that it would be “morally irresponsible” not to implement a lockdown in spring 2020, as the virus “would have killed tens of thousands of people who survived COVID” and the NHS would have been overwhelmed. Scientists also criticized the comments, insisting they were just doing their job and it was the government that ultimately made the decisions. Image: File photo dated 15/05/20 of a jogger running past a social distancing sign in Hyde Park in London during the lockdown Mr Sunak has since insisted he was not trying to suggest the lockdown could have been avoided. He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “That wasn’t the point I made. The point I made was that looking back on it, it’s right that we learned the lessons from it.” He said it was “hard to know” if there could be an alternative to the lockdown and “there’s no point in guessing”. Read more: What have Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss promised for the country? Sunak hints he won’t take cabinet post if Truss wins leadership race Mr Sunak, who resigned from Boris Johnson’s government last month, said he did not resign over his differences during the pandemic as it would not have been “responsible” given the crisis the nation faced. He said it was opening now, not just because of the Tory leadership race, but because lessons needed to be learned about “how important questions about the negative impact of the lockdown were never properly explored”. Mr Sunak had previously claimed he returned from the US early to stop another lockdown being imposed when the Omicron variant spread last winter. Click to subscribe to Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts A No 10 spokesman defended the government’s record on the pandemic. They said: “Throughout the pandemic, public health, education and the economy have been central to the difficult decisions taken on COVID restrictions to protect the British public from an unprecedented new virus. “At each point, ministers made collective decisions that took into account a wide range of expert advice available at the time to protect public health. “The UK Government has spent over £400 billion to support people, families and their livelihoods throughout our response to the pandemic, which has included the fastest life-saving vaccine in Europe.”
