THEY DIE..THAT'S OK

>> 'What Sunak told Dominic Cummings' >> Shocking evidence from top scientist

-  LIZZY BUCHAN

THE callousness and arrogance at the heart of government as millions of people feared for their lives during the pandemic was laid bare by Sir Patrick Vallance yesterday.

Rishi Sunak allegedly said people should be allowed to die rather than impose a second lockdown, according to the former Chief Scientific Adviser.

He also told the Covid Inquiry Boris Johnson felt the virus ought to be allowed to rip through the community as most of the fatalities would be elderly.

And Sir Patrick said the ex-PM was weak, "bamboozled" by the science and dithered over bringing in restrictions that could have saved more lives.

He confirmed then-Chancellor Mr Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme more than likely drove up deaths. The bombshell evidence sparked fury among families who lost loved ones in the pandemic, branding the situation "an appalling disaster that is a far bigger scandal than Partygate".

Sir Patrick kept a nightly diary during Covid, which exposed the chaos in No10 as a worried country looked to its leaders for guidance and advice.

One entry read out yesterday from October 25, 2020, regarding a second lockdown said: "PM meeting, begins to argue for letting it all rip. Saying yes there will be more casualties but so be it, they have had a good innings'.

"DC [Dominic Cummings] says 'Rishi thinks just let people die and that's OK."

Sir Patrick noted: "This all feels like a complete lack of leadership.

Speaking of Mr Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme, the medic said scientists weren't told about the plan before it was announced in August 2020.

Sir Patrick added: "It would have been very obvious to anyone that this would inevitably cause and increase in transmission risk, and I think that would have been obvious to ministers."