Yesterday, five members of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, including Jo Goodman, Fran Hall, Lobby Akinnola, Charlie Williams, and Hannah Brady) met with the PM. Together, we explained why a Statutory Public Inquiry is needed sooner rather than later.
Such an Inquiry has long been promised by the Prime Minister, but no date has been set, despite continuous pressure from the campaign group. Now, following discussions at Downing Street, the Prime Minister has promised progress before the end of the year.
At the meeting with the group, Mr Johnson committed to appointing the Chair of the inquiry by Christmas.
The Prime Minister also confirmed than he would be the minister with responsibility for the inquiry and committed to consulting further with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group.
Elkan Abrahamson said,
Yesterday, the Prime Minister finally met the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, after a year of promising to sit down and hear what they had to say.
“While the commitments the Prime Minister has made today are a clear step towards the justice that so many bereaved families need, we remain frustrated by the slow progress made so far.
“Appointing an inquiry Chair will be a significant step towards delivering the answers to key questions about the Government’s handling of the crisis and making sure the mistakes that have been made are never repeated. However, we see no reason why preparations for the Inquiry cannot begin immediately and we will continue to press Boris Johnson and his Government to increase the pace of the Inquiry process.
“The bereaved families have faced an immense amount of upset, stress and trauma over the last 18 months. They deserve to be placed front and centre of the inquiry process and so the Prime Minister’s commitment to consult further with the group is a welcome development which we intend to hold him to account on.”
This latest development comes after Scotland’s First Minister announced last month that she will initiate a Statutory Public Inquiry into her Government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic before the end of the year.
Whilst the Scottish Inquiry will cover those matters devolved to Scotland, other matters reserved to Westminster will have to be dealt with by a Four-Nation Inquiry. The First Minister for Wales, the Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford MS, has now agreed to meet the families.
If you have lost a loved one to Covid-19, you should not have to find answers alone. If you want further information about the upcoming Inquiry and what we are doing to help the bereaved families, visit our Covid Inquiry page.
In the meantime, I’d strongly advise anyone who has suffered a bereavement due to Covid-19 to join the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, as we know that pressure of numbers will be a significant factor in causing the Government to bring the Inquiry forward. Visit our Covid Inquiry FAQ page for answers to some of our commonly asked questions surrounding the Inquiry, next steps, how to instruct legal representation and more.