NEW data has revealed how much Basingstoke residents spent indulging on half price food during last years ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme.

The government initiative was introduced last August to help hospitality venues recover from the huge blow of the first national lockdown.

But research suggests the scheme drove the rate of infection up by eight to 17 per cent, accelerating the start of the second wave.

The scheme allowed customers to receive 50 per cent off food and non-alcoholic drinks at participating outlets during August 2020, with a max £10 saving per premises.

In Basingstoke, 58 outlets participated in the scheme, not including big chains like McDonalds or KFC, as those with more than 25 premises are not required to provide individual restaurant details.

A whopping 118,000 meals were claimed on the scheme in Basingstoke alone totalling £551,000 of discount.

Foodies managed to bag themselves an average discount of £4.67 per meal and participating business claimed back an average of £9,500 from HM Revenue and Customers.

But some, including the Prime Minister, have suggested the scheme could have contributed to the spread of the virus, with a University of Warwick study saying the scheme “may have substantially worsened the disease”.

In the seven days leading up to August 3, just five cases were recorded in the borough.

Three weeks after the scheme ended (September 22), the number of recorded cases for the week rose to 21, each week after this point cases continued to rise as the country entered the second wave.

Mr Sunak has said it would be too “simplistic” to connect any one scheme to a rise in cases, insisting other European nations were “following similar paths” of infections.

The Treasury said its own analysis suggests take-up of the scheme “does not correlate with incidence of Covid regionally”.