MINISTERS were warned against implementing lockdown “too early” as Boris Johnson’s government believed voluntary measures would be enough to stem the spread of coronavirus, the Covid inquiry heard today.

In his second appearance at the Covid inquiry, the then Chancellor and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was grilled over decisions made in 2020.

Mr Sunak defended both health and economic policies implemented during this period, claiming “it would not be possible to save every single person’s job.”

He said early scientific advice warned the government against bringing in measures “too early,” hoping this would mean greater public compliance with the existing voluntary health recommendations.

He said: “There was a belief that voluntary social distancing, together with school closures, if there was, I think the number was 75 per cent, compliance, would be sufficient to manage the virus, to deliver the health outcomes.”

An official report published last month revealed that Boris Johnson’s government response to the pandemic was “too little, too late” and that more than 20,000 lives could have been saved if a lockdown were implemented even a week before it happened.

It also described an “unwise” decision to remove restrictions in the summer of 2020, which was pushed in part by Mr Sunak.

When responding to questions relating to the government’s furlough scheme, which supported more than 10 million employees, he said he worried about “Britain’s ability to fund itself” at the time.

Mr Sunak also claimed that his biggest fear going into the pandemic was “mass unemployment” despite figures showing that between January-March 2020 and October-December 2020, the number of people in work fell by 825,000.

In the same period, research from the House of Commons Library found that unemployment rose by nearly 400,000 and the number of people who were reported to be economically inactive went up by 327,000.

Defending his decision to end the furlough scheme earlier than much of the advice he was receiving, the former Chancellor said his timing was “about right.”

“It wasn’t going to be possible to save every person’s job and people were going to experience economic hardship as a result of what was happening,” he said.

Mr Sunak said he took the decision to cut the job retention scheme when he did, despite warnings that it was “premature” from Labour, the TUC, finance ministers and the leaders of devolved administrations.