It’s Sunak the hero and Sunak the villain in today’s papers.
Our newslinks today give you Sunak the winner – fighting to save jobs, wages and living standards from the effects of lockdowns, restrictions and Covid-19 itself. And standing up for spending control against populist campaigns.
Our newslinks today also give you Sunak the loser – compromising our security over defence spending, having a tin political ear over free school meals…and losing out over Goverment Coronavirus policy as shutdowns intensify.
There is also some political mischief-making over his supporters’ campaigning for a Sunak premiership – or so it is claimed.
Which reading of the Chancellor’s record and prospects is nearer the truth? We will turn to that question this week, beginning tomorrow as we recommend a way forward on meals outside termtime for poorer children.
For today, we want to congratulate Sunak heartily – if today’s report in the Mail on Sunday is all it makes out to be. In a nutshell, it claims that he has tasked Treasury officials with publishing economic lockdown impact calculations.
ConservativeHome is campaigning for the Government to seek to rebalance the public conversation about lockdowns, restrictions and Covid-19.
We all need a broader understanding of the damage wrought by these to other healthcare outcomes and to economic ones too – to cancer deaths, say; and to wages.
The institutional Treasury has been hesitant about publishing, but it looks as though the Chancellor has ordered “action this day”.
And rightly: for without that more nuanced conversation, influenced by what government itself says and publishes, it will be harder to protect livelihoods and save lives – including those of people with illnesses other than Covid.
Well done, Sunak. Now keep pushing.