Cabinet Secretary warned Johnson of the ‘terrible’ effects of lockdown

The latest set of messages leaked to the Telegraph showed Simon Case raising concerns about ‘non-Covid health’ two days before a new shutdown.

Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary and the UK’s most senior civil servant (Aaron Chown/PA) (PA Archive)

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case warned Boris Johnson about the “terrible” effects of lockdown on mental health, education and the economy, according to leaked correspondence.

The nation’s most senior civil servant told the then-prime minister that the Government must be “brutally honest” with the public about those consequences, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Mr Case raised the concerns with Mr Johnson two days before the latter announced the second national shutdown in October 2020.