good afternoon. at the covid inquiry, the prime minister, rishi sunak, has apologised to all those who suffered as a result of the government s decisions during the pandemic. he s also expected to face questions about his controversial eat out to help out scheme, aimed at helping the hospitality sector. scientific advisers have already told the inquiry they didn t know about the plan until it was announced and there were concerns it would spread the virus. our political correspondent pete saull has been watching. it was at news conferences like this that many of us got to know rishi sunak. he had been promoted to chancellorjust before sunak. he had been promoted to chancellor just before a sunak. he had been promoted to chancellorjust before a global pandemic struck. of course a lot of politics has happened since then. he has moved from number 11 to number ten and this morning made the trip across london for a grilling of his actions at the time of covid. quite something to
barbenheimer goes on. this summer s blockbusters barbie and oppenheimer lead the golden globe nominations. the deaths of dozens of people in the last six months in the uk have been linked to a new group of street drugs that can be hundreds of times stronger than heroin. they re called nitazenes and they are synthetic opioids that are believed to be coming to the uk from china. our midlands correspondent navtej johal and producer alex homer have been speaking to the mother of a young man who s thought to have died after a fatal overdose. he was funny. pretty. brilliant dancer. so kind. just kind. simeon mcanoy, who was 33, died just nine weeks ago from a drug overdose. an inquest will determine his cause of death, but the coroner has told his family that a powerful synthetic opioid was found in his system, belonging to a class of drugs known as nitazenes. it is believed that at the time, simeon thought he was taking heroin. we re sitting in the living room, with simeon in
defending his role at the inquiry which is looking at how political decisions were made. mr sunak has been accused by some of putting the economy before lives. the main criticism centres around his month long eat out to help 0ut scheme in august 2020. diners received 50% off meals out on mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays, paid for by the government. it cost the treasury £840 million. at the time, rishi sunak said it would protectjobs in the hospitality industry and boost the economy. but one analysis suggests the benefit to the industry was comparatively small compared to other measures. the scheme started in august. you can see covid was on the rise from september but we don t know for certain why. people were mixing more, with schools and workplaces reopening too. here s our health reporter, jim reed. mine too. that and the yakisoba, depends on the mood i m in. back in the summer of 2020, the then chancellor brought his flagship policy to the table. eat out to help 0ut subs
around his month long eat out to help out scheme which ran in august 2020. diners received 50% off meals at restaurants on mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays with the government subsidising the bill. here s our health reporter, jim reid. mine too. that and the yakisoba, depends on the mood i m in. back in the summer of 2020, the then chancellor brought his flagship policy to the table. eat out to help 0ut subsidised midweek meals in pubs and restaurants. it proved popular at the time. but critics say it fuelled a rise in infections. did you ignore the advice over cobit? did you ignore the advice over covid? earlier witnesses, scientists and ministers have said they were not consulted in advance about that eat 0ut consulted in advance about that eat out to help 0ut scheme. he was asked to respond. why would i raise it as a risk when i didn t believe it was because it was designed in a context of a safe reopening? the onus is surely on the people who now believed it was a r