Former chief medical officer close to tears over pandemic deaths

Mr Osborne – who was chancellor from 2010 to 2016 – said: “If we had not done that Britain would have been more exposed, not just to future things like the coronavirus pandemic, but indeed to the fiscal crisis which very rapidly followed in countries across Europe.

“If we had not had a clear plan to put the public finances on a sustainable path then Britain might have experienced a fiscal crisis, we would not have had the fiscal space to deal with the coronavirus pandemic when it hit.”

The British Medical Association said Mr Osborne’s “denial” of a connection between austerity and the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable was “staggering”.

On Monday, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) produced a report, external which said austerity had led to unsafe staffing in public services leaving the UK “hugely unprepared” for Covid.

During the one hour 20 minute question session, Mr Osborne was also asked about the Treasury’s planning for potential national lockdown.

He said the department had plans for an outbreak of influenza but added “given what subsequently happened that was very small scale”.

“There was no planning done by Treasury – or any western Treasury – for asking the entire population to stay at home for months and months on end.

“If someone had said to you the UK government should be preparing for a lockdown that might last for months, then I have no doubt the Treasury would have developed schemes it did subsequently develop around the furlough and the Covid loans.

“Planning could have been done for a furlough scheme in advance – I’m not clear that would have made a better furlough scheme than the one we as a country actually saw.”

Earlier in the day, Sir Oliver Letwin, a senior minister in David Cameron’s government, told the inquiry a rapid turnover of civil service staff hindered the government’s ability to plan for pandemics.

He also warned that the UK was “wildly under-resilient” and said there should be a minister “solely devoted” to the subject.

Labour said the admissions were “too little, too late”, adding the Conservatives “cannot be trusted to protect the public from the emergencies of tomorrow”.