Today, bereaved families travelled from all over the country to ‘walk the wall’ together, in an act of solidarity and support for one another. 480 families also wrote to their MP’s asking them to join us.
It’s heartbreaking to see new families who have recently lost loved ones joining our group, having gone through the same experiences that we had 18 months ago.
With nearly 1,000 deaths in the last week, it’s becoming clear that by kicking the UK inquiry down the road for as long as poss, the Government is failing to learn the lessons that will save lives. People could be dying unnecessarily as a direct consequence.
Their excuses that they are “too busy” are hardly convincing when restrictions have been entirely lifted and Scotland have been able to start work on theirs.
It’s disappointing that neither Boris Johnson/any Conservative front benchers came today. If they are serious about protecting lives in this country, they must start listening to bereaved families and bring the inquiry forward so that lessons can be learnt asap #CovidInquiryNow
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The scenes in ITV’s ‘Breathtaking’ happened because of government inaction, arrogance and negligence. It wasn’t inevitable; adequate PPE and testing, a swifter lockdown and properly funded services would have saved thousands of lives.
(1/4)
It is crucial that the experiences of the bereaved, of doctors and key workers depicted in ‘Breathtaking’ are also heard at the UK Covid 19 Inquiry. Those in power must know the impact of their failures.
(2/4)
If a new pandemic were to hit tomorrow, the UK would be plunged into the same hell yet again. The government must learn lessons from the Inquiry and act now to save lives in this and future pandemics.
It was very frustrating to watch the inquiry let Matt Hancock, who over saw the UK having one of the highest death tolls in the world from Covid-19 before resigning for breaking his own lockdown rules, get away with lie after lie today.
1/7
For example he claimed that in late March ‘societal opinion’ was against interventions, when in fact many care homes had already ‘locked down’ at that point, and many of our members were already doing everything they could to protect their loved ones who might be vulnerable.
2/7
Shockingly he also claimed that the UK avoided having to decide who the NHS should prioritise or treat. In the first six months of the pandemic, only 8,000 of the 26,000 excess Covid-19 fatalities took place in hospital.
3/7
Today was another day of horrific evidence making clear that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak made catastrophic decisions that led to the unnecessary loss of countless lives, crippled the NHS and plunged the country into even longer lockdowns.
1/7
We learned that when Boris Johnson should have been preparing the country for Covid, he was instead insisting “this will be fine”.
2/7
We were told that even after awful death toll of the first wave he was claiming that “most people who die have reached their time anyway” and wanted to “let it rip”, and was “weak and indecisive” according to his own Chief Scientific Advisor.
3/7
The evidence from the Covid Inquiry is worse than what bereaved families feared was happening at the time.
Back then, we were often criticised for being “unfair” on the Government when we raised our concerns.
It’s clear now we weren’t being anywhere near critical enough.
1/6
In March 2020, when I was panicking about the reports coming out of Italy and how best to protect my family if Covid-19 struck the UK, Boris Johnson was “laughing at the Italians” and joking that “we were going to be great (at Covid-19)”.
2/6
Meanwhile Matt Hancock was displaying "nuclear levels" of overconfidence, literally pretending “to bat away criticism like a cricketer”, and assuring everyone that there were plans in place that never actually materialised.
3/6
During the first and second waves of the pandemic the UK had one of the highest death tolls per person in the world from Covid-19 and it’s clear just how personally responsible for that he was.
2/6
While Covid-19 was ripping through the country and I was doing everything I could to protect my mum, he was unable to take decisions, and left the country at the mercy of the virus he was supposed to be protecting them from.
3/6
It was hard to keep up with the number of horrific revelations that came out of the Covid Inquiry today.
1/6
As we’ve always suspected, instead of preparing as cases spread across the globe and within the UK, the Government wasted time debating “herd immunity” even when it was clear this would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths.
2/6
Johnson was calling the elderly “bed blockers”, asking "why are we destroying the economy for people who will die anyway soon?” and skipping COBR meetings because of half term.
While No. 10 squabbled, they resigned themselves to a staggering scale of deaths across the country.