Post by northwestman on Jan 7, 2024 0:56:17 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/06/key-covid-inquiry-report-creates-election-date-headache-for-pm
An explosive report spelling out how the Conservative government failed to prepare the country for the Covid-19 pandemic as it obsessed about Brexit is to be released before the likely date of the next general election, the Observer has been told.
In a move that will cause alarm in Downing Street, Heather Hallett’s independent Covid-19 inquiry will issue a detailed interim report “before the summer” on the first batch of public hearings held last June and July, which revealed a catalogue of errors, including the lack of PPE and failures to act on recommendations of previous pandemic planning exercises.
The first part of the inquiry also showed how pandemic planning fell victim to years of Tory austerity, and how later the Covid-19 threat was downplayed because ministers were preoccupied with trying to avoid the worst effects of a possible no-deal Brexit.
An explosive report spelling out how the Conservative government failed to prepare the country for the Covid-19 pandemic as it obsessed about Brexit is to be released before the likely date of the next general election, the Observer has been told.
In a move that will cause alarm in Downing Street, Heather Hallett’s independent Covid-19 inquiry will issue a detailed interim report “before the summer” on the first batch of public hearings held last June and July, which revealed a catalogue of errors, including the lack of PPE and failures to act on recommendations of previous pandemic planning exercises.
The first part of the inquiry also showed how pandemic planning fell victim to years of Tory austerity, and how later the Covid-19 threat was downplayed because ministers were preoccupied with trying to avoid the worst effects of a possible no-deal Brexit.
