Sunak defended the Eat Out to Help Out policy, acknowledging trade-offs and public scrutiny as restaurants reopened after the initial lockdown.

Treasury advice cautioned against early intervention, noting medical guidance that voluntary social distancing and school closures might suffice, though later a full lockdown became necessary.

The furlough scheme, officially the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, was introduced in March 2020 to preserve livelihoods and support businesses during the crisis, ultimately protecting about 11.7 million jobs and costing roughly £70 billion.

There was significant political and stakeholder pressure to extend furlough, including from the opposition and devolved administrations, but the Chancellor warned that continuing it indefinitely could prop up unviable businesses and delay necessary economic adjustments.

There was no playbook for the pandemic economic shock; policymakers faced unprecedented uncertainty and lacked a pre-existing framework for this kind of crisis.

A more targeted version of furlough was considered, but lockdowns and urgency pushed policymakers away from bespoke criteria.

In his testimony, he stressed the urgency of the response—speed mattered, and getting policies out quickly took precedence over perfection, with Treasury acknowledging not everything would be right immediately.

This marks his second appearance at the inquiry, with a stated priority of avoiding mass unemployment and acting swiftly during the crisis.

Question remains whether any actionable lessons can be drawn from this period to ease decision-making in future crises.

At the outset, officials confronted unknowns about the virus's scale and duration, with no prior experience to guide economic policy for a pandemic.

He was advised not to act too early by medical officials, with initial expectations that voluntary measures would be enough before stronger actions were taken.

Policy design evolved as officials warned against premature interventions, eventually leading to lockdowns when voluntary measures proved insufficient.