‘Eat Out to Help Out may in the end have been a false economy: one that subsidised the spread of the pandemic into Autumn and contributed to the start of the second wave,’ he said. ‘Alternative policy measures, such as extending the furlough scheme, increasing statutory sick pay and supporting low-income households through expanding free school meals may well prove to be far more cost effective than demand-stimulating measures that encourage economic activities which actively cause Covid-19 to spread.’
