Rishi Sunak can't work contactless but thinks it was mistake to ‘empower scientists’ during pandemic

Rishi Sunak, who has struggled with technology in the past, has claimed that it was a mistake to “empower scientists” during the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview with the Spectator to be published on Saturday, the former chancellor and Tory leadership candidate said the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) had too much influence on decision making such as closing nurseries, schools and colleges in March 2020.

It comes despite him not being able to make use of the technology scientists and exerts made... like contactless cards.

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He said: “We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists in the way we did. And you have to acknowledge trade-offs from the beginning.

“If we’d done all of that, we could be in a very different place. We’d probably have made different decisions on things like schools.”

As we've hinted at, earlier this year, Sunak was filmed struggling to use a contactless debit card at a Sainsbury's petrol station during a photo opportunity promoting new policies like cuts to fuel duty.

Rather than pretend it was broken or something, he recently admitted at a hustings event that it was all his fault.

"The most embarrassing thing that's happened to me is I struggled to pay for the petrol in a car that wasn't my own," he said to an audience in Darlington.

"Right? So I think you all know about that, right? And since then someone's taught me how to use that contactless machine. And I tell you, it's an amazing modern marvel this technology these days!"

The technology has been available since 2008...

All things considered, we think we'd rather listen to scientists than Sunak.

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