New Covid inquiry chair ‘needs to win trust of families’

GRIEVING families who lost loved ones to coronavirus expect the new chairman of a public inquiry into the handling of the virus to “restore their confidence” in the process after it was plunged into crisis, a solicitor has said.

Lady Poole quit as inquiry chairwoman in October, alongside four lawyers, citing personal reasons.

A solicitor representing families affected by Covid-19 said the resignation resulted in “dismay and anger at the delay” it would cause.

Lord Brailsford was appointed as her successor by Deputy First Minister John Swinney and today the families in the Scottish branch of the UK group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice were due to meet the new chairman.

Ahead of the meeting, Aamer Anwar, the solicitor acting for the group, said Lord Brailsford’s first task “must be to win the trust of the bereaved families”.

Mr Anwar said: “The grieving families will look to Lord Brailsford to restore their confidence that the Scottish public inquiry will be an effective mechanism to ensure that no institution, and no minister of government, whether they be Scottish, Welsh, UK or Northern Irish, is allowed to escape robust scrutiny.”

The Scottish inquiry was set up by Holyrood ministers and will run alongside the Uk-wide inquiry. To date, it has cost taxpayers more than £2 million.

It was set up to investigate areas such as pre-pandemic planning, the decision to go into lockdown, the supply and distribution of personal protective equipment and how Covid was dealt with in care homes.

Mr Anwar said: “For the last two years, the families we represent have campaigned for an independent public inquiry to take place into the handling of the pandemic, both at the UK level as well as in Scotland.

“These families have fought to hold to account those in charge of our public institutions, because thousands of people died who didn’t need to.”

He also condemned the appearance of former UK health secretary Matt Hancock on I’m A Celebrity... as “shameful” which had “compounded their agony and insulted the memory of every person who lost their life”.

Lord Brailsford promised families the inquiry would work independently to find answers.