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“Keen to start with an apology, minister?” “Well, no…”
And thus began the government’s response this morning to the first major inquiry into the lessons the UK should learn from COVID, which is damning on several fronts.
Cabinet office minister Steve Barclay, who was not at the centre of decision-making when the pandemic struck and conceded he had not read the 150-page report, refused 11 times to apologise for its findings.
Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world
Overseen by two senior Tories, Jeremy Hunt and Greg Clark, it is scathing on the failure to lock down earlier in March – “one of the worst public health failures the UK has ever experienced”; on care homes – which the MPs say neither the government, nor SAGE nor even the NHS took seriously enough with “devastating” consequences; and on woeful pandemic preparedness, among others.
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Thousands of deaths were preventable, the report says. Although the 100,000 tests target and the pioneering vaccine programme are highly praised.
Mr Barclay, who has the supply chain crisis in his in-tray, said the government was committed to learning lessons and would examine the report ahead of the public inquiry the prime minister has promised next spring.
The advice provided by scientists looks like it could be set for scrutiny in the upcoming inquiry
It was a defensive response given that in May (following Dominic Cummings explosive testimony to this inquiry) Boris Johnson went further than before in saying he was “truly sorry for the suffering that the people of…
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Source : skynews
