Boris Johnson is facing increased pressure to formally announce an independent inquiry into his government’s treatment of coronavirus after Sir Keir Starmer insisted that bereaved families “deserve to know when this is going to start”.
As the government’s official death toll in the crisis reached 88,590, the labor leader said The Independent that ministers “did not learn the lessons of the first phase of the pandemic”.
“The tragic result is that Britain suffered more deaths during the second wave than the first,” he said. “Every life lost by this virus is a destroyed family. The Prime Minister has promised an independent inquiry and these families deserve to know when it will start. “
His appeal came when Liberal Democratic leader Sir Ed Davey, who secured Johnson’s pledge in July 2020 to conduct “an independent inquiry into what happened,” also insisted that families who lost loved ones deserved answers.
In a message to the Prime Minister, Sir Ed demanded: “Announce tomorrow. If not, why not? What are you afraid of?
“You promised in the House of Commons, through the dispatch box, that there would be an independent inquiry. Keep your promise. Take the Covid survey. “
Although Johnson promised to conduct an inquiry in July, he argued that it was not the right time to “devote a large amount of official time” while the government was focusing its attention on fighting the pandemic, and No. 10 declined to provide further details.
The main questions remain about the format of the independent inquiry, including whether it will be established on a statutory basis under the 2005 Law of Inquiries, which will have the power to compel witnesses to testify, or on a non-statutory basis similar to that of Chilcot’s inquiry on the 2003 invasion of Iraq so that some hearings can be held in private.
Speaking for The Independent Sir Ed said the government could start preparatory work immediately, outlining the powers of the investigation, setting a deadline and starting the process to appoint an independent president to oversee the proceedings.
“I think he is [Mr Johnson] now I have to think about whether he likes it or not, ”he said. “The reality is that if he is making that statement, the launch of the vaccination will end this and the end is in sight … so clearly, if this is what he believes in, what is the barrier to making preparations for the inquiry? ”
And he added: “He must announce now, it should not be long: terms of reference, who will do it and let them prepare. In something like that, they need some preparatory work to get started and this is going to be a big, huge investigation.
“By nominating the legal team, they can start preparatory work and then they can agree when you really push to go, so the people involved in the pandemic have to come and testify.
“Clearly, I’m not suggesting Chris Whitty [chief medical officer]Patrick Vallance [chief scientific adviser] and everyone else, or even ministers, must appear before the investigation now. But there is a lot of work that can be done. “
In the absence of an official inquiry, former conservative ministers Jeremy Hunt and Greg Clark launched a joint parliamentary inquiry into the pandemic in October, when they warned that any public inquiry would arrive “too late” for the immediate lessons to be taken on board by government.
Mr. Hunt and Mr. Clark, who chair the Commons health and science committees, respectively, are expected to publish a report on their findings in the spring and have so far questioned officials like Sir Patrick and Professor Whitty and examined issues such as social assistance and Covid-19 vaccine approval.
A separate Parliamentary All Party Group (APPG) – chaired by MP Liberal Democrat Layla Moran – also launched an investigation last year and conducted several evidence sessions, investigating the widely criticized NHS Test and Trace program, blockades and exit strategies, and preparations for a pandemic, including the government’s simulation of a 2016 flu outbreak, Exercise Cygnus.
Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the government between 2000 and 2007, said The Independent: “We should have made an inquiry before now, we could have saved the day, but an inquiry as soon as possible would be good.”
However, he warned: “I think it is now almost inevitable that the Prime Minister will back down until he feels the epidemic is over. One of the questions is whether it depends on the prime minister … I think he would be late until the next election, or after it, it would hardly be a good report ”.
Sir David, who founded the Independent Sage group to mirror the government’s official Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, also said the country could have suffered 10,000 deaths during the pandemic, describing the current number as “shameful” and placing the blame on “incredibly poor making a decision”.
Ignoring Mr. Johnson’s remarks about an investigation that diverted officials’ attention from the fight against Covid-19, he added: “Of course they would call on the government to respond, but it certainly wouldn’t be a distraction to control the epidemic.”
Jo Goodman, 32, who lost his father in April, said families who lost loved ones “are entitled to answers.” She co-founded the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group and has repeatedly called for an independent public inquiry into how the government is dealing with the pandemic, including a quick review of the first phase.
“I just felt that there should be some kind of responsibility and lessons should be learned so that other lives can be saved,” she said. The Independent.
“It has been a traumatic way to lose someone: knowing that this could have been avoided and, in addition, all the restrictions that are in place have a very strong impact on the grieving process. We are entitled to answers ”.
Mrs. Goodman added: “The best time for the rapid review phase would have been the summer, because there would obviously have been a certain gap in the volume of cases we are seeing. We believe that a public inquiry should be started as soon as possible to start as soon as possible.
“Whether it is practical to do that now, when we are at our peak, is an open question. Obviously, the priority now is to save lives, but there must be an investigation and it must happen soon. “
The pressure on Johnson comes as polls show that public approval of the way his government is dealing with the coronavirus crisis has dropped to the second lowest level since the pandemic began.
A survey published by Opinium Research late on Saturday revealed that only 30% approve of the way the government is dealing with Covid, compared with 50% that disapprove it.
The poll, which also gave Labor a four-point advantage over conservative voters, was carried out on Thursday.