Luke Johnson: "Lockdown will cause more deaths than the Coronavirus"

Speaking on BBC’s Question Time ​last night (14 May), Johnson, who is chairman of private equity firm Risk Capital Partners and currently backs operators including Gail’s Bakery and Lussmanns Sustainable Fish & Grill, said he believes more deaths will come from the collateral damage generated by the lockdown, than by the virus itself.  

“We have to get things a bit into context,” he said.

“Every death is tragic, but we are entering the largest recession for 300 years.  The Bank of England says the economy will shrink by 14%, that’s the equivalent of two recessions. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we see two million more unemployed people within a year.

“The collateral damage of this lockdown has to be taken into account. Very soon I believe lockdown will be causing more deaths than the virus.”

Johnson, who has consistently been a vocal sceptic of the lockdown, also said he didn’t have a great deal of confidence in the scientific advice being provided to the Government, describing the prediction that half a million people in the UK would have died if no lockdown had been implemented as “a ludicrous exaggeration”.

“I think there’s a grave risk that the pill will [be worse than the ill].

“There’s a real risk that millions of people in the private sector are going to see their careers demolished, and I think that really matters.

“People say this is putting economics over lives, but unemployment can kill people."