After misspelling her own name on the cover of her forthcoming book, Grace Blakeley’s laser-like attention to detail has now turned to Rishi’s Eat Out to Help Out policy. In her weekly Tribune newsletter, Grace wrote:

Yesterday, I had my first experience of the government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme. On my way to the station I wandered into a Pret a Manger to buy some lunch, picked up a sandwich, went to the till to pay and – just as I was pulling my card out of my bag – was informed that my lunch would be free due to a £10 subsidy from the government.

Vice’s money columnist was clearly using invention about her trip to Pret, as that isn’t how the discount works. Rishi’s voucher gives you 50% off participating restaurants up to £10 – you will never get a free meal. The discount also only applies to eat-in customers – not takeaways. Given Grace claimed she was just popping in on the way to catch a train it seems unlikely the discount would have been applied full stop. The article has since been amended to say “effectively free“. It might be easier to just admit the anecdote – like Grace’s financial commentary qualifications – was just made up…