Drakeford is facing fresh calls for Welsh Covid inquiry
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford faced fresh calls to commit to a public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hannah Brady, from campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, raised the issue at a Labour Party conference fringe event, saying “shamefully” Welsh families had not been promised an inquiry.
“Unbelievably, we have a Labour First Minister in Wales who refuses to announce a devolved Welsh inquiry. Our Scottish families have successfully secured an inquiry in Scotland.
“Shamefully, our Welsh families can’t even get a response to letters that they send Mark Drakeford.
“The only other party leader to do that has been Boris Johnson, and that is not good company to keep for a Labour First Minister.
“We need Labour’s support for Covid inquiries to be consistent across the board.”
The Welsh Government has argued that the UK-wide inquiry promised by the Prime Minister is the correct process to investigate what happened.
Ms Brady criticised Labour MPs who had failed to support her group, but praised leader Sir Keir Starmer, deputy leader Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham for backing the campaigners’ call for an early UK inquiry.
“I should not have to comfort my members when they write to their Labour MP about their lost loved one, asking for support for a public inquiry only to be ignored,” she said. “A response is the least they deserve.
“We already feel abandoned by the Government, we need Labour to hold themselves to a higher standard. Key workers, union members, Red Wall voters like my dad, were sent to the slaughter to keep this country alive.”
She said her family deserves to know “why he died and what is actually being done to prevent others like him dying unnecessarily”.