Pm’s public inquiry date ‘ just too late’

BORIS JOHNSON is to launch a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic next year – but victims’ relatives say it will be ‘simply too late’.

The prime minister yesterday told MPs that proceedings would begin in ‘spring 2022’ and said starting too early risked ‘diverting or distracting’ officials still tackling coronavirus.

But Jo Goodman, of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said: ‘Lives are at stake with health experts and scientists warning of a third wave later this year.

‘A rapid review in summer 2020 could have saved our loved ones who died in the second wave in winter.’

The judge-led inquiry could examine

Tim Russell ruled: ‘The timing of the dismissal and false reason simply confirms the real reason for it as well as the unfairness of it.’

Ms O’Harris was awarded more than £38,000 by the tribunal government performance on rolling out Covid tests and tackling a shortage of personal protective equipment in care homes and hospitals. It could look at whether lockdowns came too slowly and why the UK was left with the worst death toll in Europe. It is unlikely to report before the next general election.

‘Amid such tragedy the state has an obligation to examine its actions as rigorously and as candidly as possible, and to learn every lesson for the future,’ the prime minister said. ‘We for the loss of her £35,500 a year job. Afterwards, she said: ‘I was walking to work and passed him on the street, not a care in the world for the general public. He came back and said, “you are dismissed. You can leave now”.’ must not inadvertently divert and distract the very people on whom we all depend in the heat of our struggle against this disease.’

A commission on Covid commemoration will also be established to ensure that the thousands of victims of the pandemic are not forgotten.

Mr Johnson said: ‘There is a solemn duty on our whole United Kingdom to come together and to cherish the memories of those who have been lost.’

He said he was ‘deeply moved’ when he visited the Covid memorial wall opposite Parliament, adding: ‘I wholeheartedly support the plan for a memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral, which will provide a fitting place of reflection.’