\n<\/p>\n
<\/span>Brenda Doherty (right) who lost her mother on March 24, 2020, and Lauren Mallon, who lost her uncle during the pandemic, speaking out at the National Covid Memorial Wall in London tonight.<\/span> Photograph: Jaimi Joy\/Reuters<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the first reaction from a bereaved families group. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK says:<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence from the inquiry is clear, and while it is vindicating to see Boris Johnson blamed in black and white for the catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic, it is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister.<\/p>\n \u201cWe now know that many of our family members would still be alive today if it weren\u2019t for the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the report has found, the government\u2019s approach to the pandemic was undermined from the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Johnson had listened to scientific advice and locked down even a week earlier, around 23,000 people could have been saved. Instead, throughout the pandemic, Boris Johnson put his political reputation ahead of public safety.<\/p>\n \u201cHe pandered to his critics when the UK needed decisive action.<\/p>\n \u201cIn delaying lockdowns he made them longer, more damaging to the economy and less effective, he ignored scientific advice that didn\u2019t fit his agenda, and he ignored the impact of his decisions on the front line, repeating the mistakes of the first wave and prolonging the second.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.18 EST<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n 5m ago<\/p>\n \u2018Had the lockdown been a week earlier, my mother would have been saved\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 19m ago<\/p>\n Starmer responds to findings<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 31m ago<\/p>\n A quick recap of key findings<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 54m ago<\/p>\n ‘Devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1h ago<\/p>\n Sturgeon criticised for ‘extremely wide’ powers in Scotland’s response<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1h ago<\/p>\n Mistakes repeated with delayed restrictions<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n February 2020 ‘a lost month’ with Johnson uninformed on growing crisis<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n All four governments failed to respond in time<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Pandemic not taken seriously until it was ‘too late’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Lockdown a week earlier could have saved 23,000 lives<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Covid inquiry report released<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Former Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle joins Greens<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3h ago<\/p>\n How Home Office would decide whether to cut or lengthen settlement waiting times under new rules<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Chris Philp accuses Mahmood of lifting Tory ideas that Labour voted against when he first proposed them<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says settlement reforms needed to show immigration ‘can still work’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says, unlike Reform UK and Tories, Labour not proposing to remove settled status retrospectively<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says ‘Boriswave’ migrants already here would have to wait 15 years before they can get settlement<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says benefit claimants, and people who arrived illegally, would have to wait more than 10 years for settlement<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood explains how some migrants could qualify for settlement more quickly, including higher-rate taxpayers<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says 4 new criteria will apply to people wanting settlement: no criminal record, A level-type English, NI contributions and no debt<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 5h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says starting point for settlement to rise from 5 years to 10 years<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 5h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood makes statement to MPs on earned settlement rules<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 5h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood unveils plan to make UK’s rules on migrants staying permanently ‘by far most controlled and selective in Europe’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 5h ago<\/p>\n Transport secretary Heidi Alexander rules out ‘national pay-per-mile’ scheme for electric vehicles in budget<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 5h ago<\/p>\n MoJ to remove right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in controversial overhaul<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 6h ago<\/p>\n No 10 says ‘only Ukrainian people can determine their future’ after US and Russia draft capitulation peace plan<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 6h ago<\/p>\n Starmer defends government’s decision to delay publication of Send review until 2026<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 6h ago<\/p>\n Starmer says school breakfast clubs ‘a real gamechanger’ as 500 more schools set to benefit from programme<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 6h ago<\/p>\n Rural people feel ignored by government, environment secretary Emma Reynolds told at CLA conference<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 7h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says No 10 anti-Streeting briefing mishap was ‘total car crash’ and a ‘humiliation’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 7h ago<\/p>\n Mahmood says she is considering ‘big’ increase in amount paid to refused asylum seekers to get them to leave voluntarily<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 8h ago<\/p>\n Burnham sets out Greater Manchester’s ‘new model of economic growth’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 9h ago<\/p>\n Burnham says UK would benefit from new approach to growth and politics he’s promoting in Manchester<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 9h ago<\/p>\n Andy Burnham urges government to rethink plans to make asylum seekers wait up to 20 years for permanent settlement<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Brenda Doherty (right) lost her mother on March 24, 2020. Ruth Burke was the first female COVID-19 death in Northern Ireland.<\/span> Photograph: Jaimi Joy\/Reuters<\/p>\n I just want to go back again to Brenda Doherty, who lost her mother Ruth Burke in the first weeks of the pandemic. She\u2019s been speaking in the freezing cold this evening to media at the Covid memorial wall along the Thames in London.<\/p>\n The report lays blame squarely at the feet of governments who acted too slowly, she says. Boris Johnson did not enact a lockdown until 23 March.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mummy died on 24 March 2020,\u201d she said, her voice breaking.<\/p>\n \u201cThe report made it clear that had the lockdown been a week earlier, people like my mummy would have been saved.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n In a written parliamentary statement, Keir Starmer has addressed the failings identified in today\u2019s report of the previous government.<\/p>\n \u201c[It] has found that the Government fell short, with advice lacking proper economic and social modelling, the impact on vulnerable people not sufficiently considered, and the culture in the centre of government described as \u201ctoxic\u201d.<\/p>\n He notes that decisions were made in the context of the UK being not properly prepared.<\/p>\n He says: \u201cSince then, improvements have been made to the way the government would respond to a major crisis. That said, it is clear that local government and our public services, including the NHS, are under immense pressure and in many cases have not fully recovered from the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Frances Mao<\/span><\/p>\n About 23,000 deaths could have been prevented if the first Covid-19 lockdown was introduced even a week earlier<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Chaotic government response summarised as \u201ctoo little, too late\u201d. All four governments failed to recognise scale and threat of the virus<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Boris Johnson, cabinet ministers and government scientists underestimated or ignored warning signs of the virus\u2019 spread in Italy and China<\/p>\n<\/li>\n They made repeat mistakes in delaying action on lockdowns and restrictions, an \u201cinexcusable\u201d action given repeat waves<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Johnson was too \u201coptimistic\u201d over pandemic\u2019s trajectory and presided over a \u201ctoxic culture\u201d at Downing Street which prevented clear action<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Special adviser Dominic Cummings singled out for \u201cdestabilising behaviour\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Early health advice to public was \u201cweak\u201d, focusing largely on hand hygiene. Face masks were \u201cpositively discouraged\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Key scientists failed to act with enough urgency in government advice<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Alcohol-filled parties in Downing Street \u201cundermined public confidence in decision-making\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Children \u201cwere not always prioritised\u201d and \u201csuffered greatly from the closure of schools and requirement to stay at home\u201d. The pandemic \u201cbrought ordinary childhood to a halt\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Share<\/p>\n <\/span>Brenda Doherty (right) who lost her mother on March 24, 2020, and Lauren Mallon, who lost her uncle during the pandemic, speaking out at the National Covid Memorial Wall in London tonight.<\/span> Photograph: Jaimi Joy\/Reuters<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the first reaction from a bereaved families group. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK says:<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence from the inquiry is clear, and while it is vindicating to see Boris Johnson blamed in black and white for the catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic, it is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister.<\/p>\n \u201cWe now know that many of our family members would still be alive today if it weren\u2019t for the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the report has found, the government\u2019s approach to the pandemic was undermined from the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Johnson had listened to scientific advice and locked down even a week earlier, around 23,000 people could have been saved. Instead, throughout the pandemic, Boris Johnson put his political reputation ahead of public safety.<\/p>\n \u201cHe pandered to his critics when the UK needed decisive action.<\/p>\n \u201cIn delaying lockdowns he made them longer, more damaging to the economy and less effective, he ignored scientific advice that didn\u2019t fit his agenda, and he ignored the impact of his decisions on the front line, repeating the mistakes of the first wave and prolonging the second.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.18 EST<\/p>\n Severin Carrell<\/span><\/p>\n Nicola Sturgeon has been chastised for failing to consult the Scottish cabinet about \u201cvery significant\u201d decisions she took during the pandemic, such as the decision to close schools, which diminished the cabinet\u2019s role and reduced her accountability, the inquiry found.<\/p>\n The report said Sturgeon, then Scotland\u2019s first minister, and her deputy John Swinney, who is now first minister, had taken \u201cextremely wide\u201d powers and used a gold command structure rather than consulting fellow ministers about their decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe use of the informal gold command meeting structure diminished the role of the Scottish cabinet and reduced the transparency of the Scottish government\u2019s decision-making during the pandemic. It also deprived decision-makers of a wide range of views. The Scottish cabinet frequently became a decision-ratifying body, not the ultimate decision-making body.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Scottish cabinet should have been involved to a greater degree in decision- making in Scotland. This would have ensured greater transparency and enhanced accountability for decisions taken by the gold command and, increasingly, Ms Sturgeon.\u201d<\/p>\n Lady Hallett\u2019s report said the cabinet had previously found the evidence for closing schools was \u201cnot yet clear\u201d but the next day Sturgeon and Swinney decided to close them, despite cabinet agreeing to keep that decision under review. It said:<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough the situation was rapidly deteriorating, the cabinet should have been sufficiently agile and engaged to play its central role in decision-making and not be sidelined in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n Kate Forbes, the current deputy first minister, told MSPs on Thursday the government would carry out a \u201cthorough and thoughtful review\u201d after it had time to study the report and its findings.<\/p>\n She did not comment directly on the accusations of sidelining cabinet, but said: \u201cwe are committed to learning from the past\u201d and acknowledged \u201cthe loss, hurt and suffering of people right across Scotland\u201d during the pandemic.<\/p>\n Murdo Fraser, speaking for the Scottish Conservatives, said Forbes had admitted to the Covid inquiry she was often shut out of significant decisions during the pandemic, even though she was then finance secretary.<\/p>\n This meant \u201cthe absurd boast that this government is committed to transparency is an insult to those who lost loved ones out of respect to them and all Scots.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.11 EST<\/p>\n Jessica Murray<\/span><\/p>\n Even after a lockdown was imposed on 23 March, the report said, mistakes were repeated, including what it called an \u201cunwise\u201d exit from restrictions that summer, pushed in part by Rishi Sunak, the then-chancellor.<\/p>\n <\/span>People eating out in Yorkshire in summer 2020, during the Eat Out To Help Out scheme. <\/span> Photograph: SOPA Images\/LightRocket\/Getty Images<\/p>\n When a second wave swept the UK, a new lockdown was again delayed, with all the four UK governments saying restrictions could ease over Christmas, giving people \u201cfalse hope\u201d, as the report put it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cinexcusable\u201d that the mistakes were made again, says Baroness Heather Hallett, author of the report.<\/p>\n Share<\/span>The National Covid Memorial Wall in London<\/span> Photograph: James Manning\/PA<\/p>\n Just some background for readers, although most likely we all remember it well: The UK suffered one of the deadliest Covid outbreaks in Europe, with about 240,000 virus-related deaths.<\/strong><\/p>\n This report today is the second from Baroness Heather Hallett, who is overseeing a national inquiry into all aspects of the response and handling of the pandemic.<\/p>\n The inquiry began two years ago and is due to run until 2027. The current focus is on children.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.44 EST<\/p>\n Jessica Murray<\/span><\/span>Boris Johnson announced the first lockdown on March 23, 2020 \u2013 an action taken too late says the report.<\/span> Photograph: Paul Ellis\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n It was \u201csurprising\u201d that Johnson did not do call a Cobra meeting before March, the report\u2019s authors say, with some understatement.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Johnson should have appreciated sooner that this was an emergency that required prime ministerial leadership to inject urgency into the response.\u201d<\/p>\n This was explained in part by the PM \u201cacting in accordance with his own optimistic disposition\u201d and accepting assurances that everything necessary was being done.<\/p>\n Many of these assurances came from Matt Hancock, the health secretary, described by the report as having as reputation \u201cfor overpromising and underdelivering\u201d.<\/p>\n February 2020 was \u201ca lost month\u201d and the lack of urgency overall in government was \u201cinexcusable\u201d, the report found.<\/p>\n During the February school half-term, Johnson spent the whole week at the government\u2019s Chevening country retreat, the report says, adding: \u201cIt does not appear that he was briefed, at all or to any significant extent, on Covid-19 and he received no daily updates.\u201d<\/p>\n By the second week of March, the report said, the situation was \u201clittle short of calamitous\u201d, with no proper plan, no testing taking place and thus no understanding about how far the virus had spread.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.26 EST<\/p>\n Peter Walker<\/span><\/p>\n While perhaps the most stinging criticism is directed at Johnson and his team, notably his then adviser Dominic Cummings, the report also targets the three devolved governments and scientific advisers.<\/p>\n The inquiry finds that the response of the four governments repeatedly amounted to a case of \u2018too little, too late\u2019.<\/p>\n The failure to appreciate the scale of the threat, or the urgency of response it demanded, meant that by the time the possibility of a mandatory lockdown was first considered it was already too late and a lockdown had become unavoidable.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of the same mistakes \u2013 reacting too slowly and underestimating the speed and impact of Covid\u2019s spread \u2013 were then repeated later in 2020, as restrictions were lifted and then belatedly reimposed in the face of infectious new strains, the report adds, calling this \u201cinexcusable\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.20 EST<\/p>\n Peter Walker<\/span><\/p>\n The first volume of the report gives a chronology of the crisis, from the start of 2020 to the final lifting of restrictions, pointing to a consistent picture of inaction despite ever-mounting evidence about a new virus that was spreading around the globe and could be transmitted between people.<\/p>\n Events like the early Covid crisis in Italy \u201cshould have prompted urgent planning across the four nations\u201d, the report said, adding:<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, the governments did not take the pandemic seriously enough until it was too late. February 2020 was a lost month.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n My colleagues Peter Walker and Jessica Murray have more detail:<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s response to Covid was \u201ctoo little, too late\u201d, a damning official report into the handling of the pandemic has concluded, saying the introduction of a lockdown even a week earlier than happened could have saved more than 20,000 lives.<\/p>\n Detailed in more than 750 pages across two volumes, the findings of the second part of the Covid inquiry\u2019s hearings, into how Boris Johnson\u2019s government handled the pandemic, paint a consistent picture of delay, inaction and a seeming inability to learn lessons.<\/p>\n The narrative about the start of the pandemic in early 2020 is particularly brutal, describing February as \u201ca lost month\u201d. It questions why Johnson failed to chair a single meeting of the Cobra emergency committee that month, noting also that the response to Covid essentially halted during the half-term holiday week.<\/p>\n While acknowledging that the decision to impose a lockdown was unprecedented and hugely difficult, taking other action to curb the spread of the virus sooner could have meant one might have been avoided, or at least have been shorter, it said.<\/p>\n By the time a lockdown was inevitable, the inquiry authors went on, if it had been imposed on 16 March, a week earlier than took place, modelling suggested this could have cut the number of deaths in England in the first wave of the virus by almost half, equating to 23,000 lives saved.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.49 EST<\/p>\n The official report into how the UK government tackled the coronavirus pandemic has just been published.<\/p>\n It is a damning assessment, and finds that there were multiple delays and inaction, and failures by those in charge to learn lessons through successive waves.<\/p>\n More detail soon.<\/p>\n ShareAndrew Sparrow<\/span><\/p>\n Sonia Lenegan<\/strong> has posted a good analysis of the earned settlement plans at Free Movement, a blog covering immigration law. This is her conclusion.<\/p>\n The paper is fairly explicit that the target here is the number of people on health and care visas. So it is low earners and our carers who the government is proposing to force into additional expensive applications and a longer period of instability before they are able settle, contrary to the rules under which they made the decision to uproot their lives and move to the UK.<\/p>\n I am aware that there is a view that people who are already here but have not yet reached the point where they are eligible for settlement are fair game, and some will argue that their inclusion means these changes are not retrospective. But I think that it is important to remember that many if not most of these people will have had a choice about where to move. They chose the UK, based on rules which would allow them to settle after five years. Changing those rules on them now is simply unfair and transitional arrangements are essential.<\/p>\n That is all from me for today. Frances Mao<\/strong> is now taking over.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ‘Devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister’ Brenda Doherty (right) who lost her mother on March 24, 2020, and Lauren Mallon, who lost her uncle during the pandemic, speaking out at the National Covid Memorial Wall in London tonight. Photograph: Jaimi Joy\/Reuters Here\u2019s the first reaction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[17281,5333,2273,132,3948,124,1735],"class_list":{"0":"post-34601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-bereaved","9":"tag-covid","10":"tag-devastating","11":"tag-live","12":"tag-lives","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-saved"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\u2018Had the lockdown been a week earlier, my mother would have been saved\u2019<\/h2>\n
Starmer responds to findings<\/h2>\n
A quick recap of key findings<\/h2>\n
\n
‘Devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister’<\/h2>\n
Sturgeon criticised for ‘extremely wide’ powers in Scotland’s response<\/h2>\n
Mistakes repeated with delayed restrictions<\/h2>\n
February 2020 ‘a lost month’ with Johnson uninformed on growing crisis<\/h2>\n
All four governments failed to respond in time<\/h2>\n
Pandemic not taken seriously until it was ‘too late’<\/h2>\n
Lockdown a week earlier could have saved 23,000 lives<\/h2>\n
Covid inquiry report released<\/h2>\n