The Eat Out To Help Out Scheme Could Return This Winter

12 November 2020, 12:34

Eat Out to Help Out may be back for winter 2021
Eat Out to Help Out may be back for winter 2021. Picture: Getty

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has apparently hinted the Eat Out to Help Out scheme may return in 2021 to get the nation spending again this winter.

After the success of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme at the end of summer, Rishi Sunak has hinted it may return this winter in the New Year to “get consumers spending again.”

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The second coronavirus lockdown in England comes to an end on 2 December and weeks after restrictions are eased Sunak is hoping to boost the economy once more.

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The first government-backed scheme ran from 3 August to 31, offering 50 per cent off of meals up to £10 per head Monday to Wednesday at a huge number of restaurants who chose to get involved.

Sunak was asked on Thursday morning if a new version of the discount scheme would return and he said he wants to encourage spending again.

He told Sky News: “We'll talk about specific measures, but more broadly I think it's right when we finally exit this (lockdown) and hopefully next year with testing and vaccines, we'll be able to start to look forward to getting back to normal.

Rishi Sunak wants to boost spending after the second lockdown
Rishi Sunak wants to boost spending after the second lockdown. Picture: Getty

“We'll have to look forward to the economic situation then and see what the best form of our support.

“We want to get consumers spending again, get them out and about, we'll look at a range of things to see what the right interventions are at that time.”

Diners took advantage of the first scheme over 100 million times throughout August.

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