Sunak claims he was gagged over negative effects of COVID lockdowns and scientists had too much influence over decision making

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak has attacked the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies for having too much influence over government decision-making during the COVID pandemic

The Tory leadership hopeful suggested that No 10's desperation to present its policies as"following the science" meant SAGE was given too much power to make decisions, and that this was a mistake."And you have to acknowledge trade-offs from the beginning. If we'd done all of that, we could be in a very different place. We'd probably have made different decisions on things like schools.

He claimed he"wasn't allowed to talk about" his fears in public, and ministers were briefed on how to handle questions about the socio-economic impact of lockdown. He said he is opening up now not just because of the Tory leadership race, but because lessons must be leant on"how important questions about lockdown's knock-on effect were never properly explored".

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