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 about Sunak was arguably worse.
We learned our PM didn’t consult the scientific advisors on Eat Out To Help Out, which was “highly likely to have increased the number of deaths”, a consequence that was “entirely predictable” according to Patrick Vallance.
4/7
Our loved ones should have been able to trust that their Government was prioritising saving life, and that’s why so many people believed that EOTHO was safe.
Instead it's almost certain that masses of people died because of Rishi Sunak’s callous and reckless attitude.
5/7
He also ended up wrecking the economy as we were thrown into months of lockdown to salvage a situation partly created by EOTHO.
It was an appalling disaster and is a far bigger scandal than partygate.
6/7
You’re left asking how anyone can trust Rishi Sunak to lead the country if another pandemic struck tomorrow?
7/7
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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.
The first module of the Inquiry has confirmed exactly what the bereaved have always known: that the UK Government had entirely failed to plan to prevent or slow the spread of a pandemic and it was families like ours that paid the price.
(1/4)
The last few weeks have exposed that we had no overall plan for a non-flu pandemic, a dysfunctional civil emergencies framework, and inadequate coordination between local and central government and Westminster and devolved governments.
(2/4)
At the same time, the Government’s austerity programme left our population severely vulnerable to Covid 19, and our public services on their knees and unable cope with a crisis.
(3/4)
In response to Matt Hancock's appearance at the @covidinquiryuk Lindsay Jackson has made the following statement on behalf of Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice:
'Matt Hancock’s appearance today confirmed what we already knew; that he and the Government entirely failed
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to plan to save lives, instead focusing their attentions on disposal of bodies in what they accepted as an ‘inevitable’ crisis.
(2/6)
Whether this was down to complacency, incompetence or reluctance to spend the necessary money, our loved ones and the British public deserved better from their Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
(3/6)
Please watch ITV’s devastating report from last night.
Instead of listening to bereaved families in person the Covid Inquiry are outsourcing the process to private companies, including 23Red, a PR Firm paid millions for its work inside the Cabinet Office during the pandemic.
23Red are owned by CapGemini, who also won contracts worth millions of pounds, including in NHS Test and Trace.
The conflict of interest is obvious.
These companies shouldn't be anywhere near the Inquiry, never mind responsible for how it reaches bereaved families
Predictably, many of the bereaved now won’t participate in the listening exercise because of 23Red’s involvement, so they’re achieving the opposite of what the inquiry is paying them huge sums of taxpayers of money to do.