MPs have published a ‘damning’ report into the government’s Covid response
(AFP via Getty Images)
Mistakes at the start of the Covid pandemic cost lives, according to a new report which called the government’s initial policy “one of the most important public health failures” ever in the UK.
Stephen Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister, refused to apologise and insisted the government “did take decisions to move quickly” in the wake of the report’s publication.
The study by a crossparty parliamentary committee said the UK’s preparation for a pandemic was far too focused on flu and ministers waited too long to push through lockdown measures in early 2020.
The MPs also said while herd immunity was not an official government strategy, there was a “policy approach of fatalism about the prospects for Covid in the community”.
Minister ‘does not accept we were late to lockdown’
Stephen Barclay also told Good Morning Britain he does not “accept we were late to lockdown”.
When pressed on the findings of the report, which says thousands of lives could have been saved if lockdown happened earlier, he said there was a “wide range of views” among the programme’s own viewers on whether lockdown was too strict, too long or not enough.
Zoe Tidman12 October 2021 09:02
Minister refuses to apologise to public
The Cabinet Office minister refused to apologise when asked repeatedly this morning.
“I suppose you want to start with an apology to the British public?” Kay Burley asked Stephen Barley this morning as he appeared on Sky News.
Watch the full interview here:
Zoe Tidman12 October 2021 08:40
Minister refuses to apologise to public
The Cabinet Office minister refused to apologise when asked repeatedly this morning.
“I suppose you want to start with an apology to the British public?” Kay Burley asked Stephen Barley this morning as he appeared on Sky News.
Watch the full interview here:
Zoe Tidman12 October 2021 08:40
Initial response to Covid cost thousands of lives, report finds
Ministers have repeatedly denied that the government sought to build up population immunity against the virus by allowing it to freely spread in the UK.
But findings from a cross-party inquiry show this was the “effective consequence” of the initial response to Covid, resulting in tens of thousands of avoidable deaths.
Our science correspondent, Sam Lovett, has the full story on the new report:
Zoe Tidman12 October 2021 08:15
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the Covid pandemic, as the UK reacts to a new damning report on the government’s Covid response.
Zoe Tidman12 October 2021 08:13
