Category Archives: Covid inquiry

First minister says SNP MP who defected to Tories ‘probably never believed’ in Scottish independence – as it happened

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Humza Yousaf says Lisa Cameron’s move was ‘the least surprising news I’ve had as leader of the SNP’

NHS waiting lists have hit a new record high, with more people facing long waits, PA Media reports. PA says:

Figures for the NHS in England show 7.75 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of August, up from 7.68 million in July.

This is the highest number since records began in August 2007 and comes despite Rishi Sunak saying cutting waiting lists is one of his priorities.

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Boris Johnson’s decision-making was ‘bipolar’ during Covid, wrote Vallance

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Chief scientific adviser in 2020 found the ex-PM ‘completely inconsistent’ in his evidence to the Covid inquiry

Boris Johnson’s decision-making during the coronavirus pandemic was described as “bipolar” and “completely inconsistent” by Sir Patrick Vallance, the Covid inquiry has heard.

The government’s then chief scientific adviser acknowledged his frustration in his diary entries, which he has submitted to the panel as evidence, at the “chaos” in Downing Street and Johnson’s “flip-flopping” when making decisions about restrictions.

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Sunak fails to hand WhatsApp messages from time as chancellor to Covid inquiry

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Exclusive: PM claims he has changed phone since running the Treasury and did not back up the messages

Rishi Sunak has failed to hand over his WhatsApp messages from his time as chancellor to the Covid inquiry despite the high court ruling that ministers should disclose their communications for scrutiny.

In his witness statement to the public inquiry, seen by the Guardian, the prime minister claimed that he did “not have access” to the messages during the period running the Treasury because he had changed his phone several times and failed to back them up.

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Michael Gove claims work for no-deal Brexit made UK ‘match fit’ for pandemic

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Levelling up minister strongly denied work to leave EU hindered readiness for crisis at Covid inquiry

Michael Gove strongly denied planning for a no-deal Brexit weakened pandemic readiness and claimed it actually helped in evidence to the UK Covid-19 public inquiry.

Senior officials in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have previously told the investigation that as scores of civil servants were switched to planning for the UK to crash out of the EU, work to update and develop pandemic plans was sidelined.

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Rishi Sunak admits NHS faces ‘long-term challenges’ after damning report – UK politics live

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PM likely to be questioned during Nottingham visit on King’s Fund report that says NHS is ‘more a laggard than a leader’

Lord Bethell, the former health minister, has welcomed the announcement from the government today about targeted lung cancer screening. But he thinks the government should go further.

The review by Javed Khan, published last summer, recommended raising the age at which people can buy cigarettes “by one year every year until no one can buy a tobacco product in this country”. Many Tories strongly oppose measures like this on libertarian grounds, and the government has not adopted the plan.

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Rishi Sunak says he is ‘totally, 100% on it’ in battle against inflation – UK politics live

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Prime minister says he knows people will be anxious about rate rise but ‘it is going to be OK’

Rishi Sunak has posted a thread on Twitter setting out what the government is doing to help people with the cost of living. It starts here.

He ends by saying “if we can hold our nerve” he is confident the plan will deliver.

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Chris Whitty: UK should have focused more on stopping Covid-type pandemic

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England’s chief medical officer tells Covid inquiry focus was more on dealing with consequences of pandemic

England’s chief medical officer, Sir Chris Whitty, said the UK “did not give sufficient thought” to stopping Covid in its tracks as he listed multiple problems with preparedness in his first cross-examination at the pandemic public inquiry.

Whitty said the “big weakness” was a lack of “radicalism” in thinking before the crisis took hold, and he said government scientific advisers would not have thought to have considered national lockdowns without it being requested by a senior politician.

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MPs voting on report that found Boris Johnson misled parliament – UK politics live

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Theresa May says parliament must punish MPs who break rules as Penny Mordaunt says Johnson ‘undermined democratic process’

At the Labour event Keir Starmer is now speaking. He starts with a jibe at the SNP, saying the tide is turning in Scotland.

Turning to energy policy, he says Labour wants to promote security.

Can we still achieve great things? Can we unite and move forward? Can we still change, can we grow, can we get things done, can we build things? New industries, new technologies, new jobs; will they come to our shores, or will the future pass us by?

You can put it even more starkly. Around the world people want to know, are we still a great nation? If the question is about the British people, the answer is emphatically: yes.

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Covid testing was a weakness in early pandemic response, DHSC tells inquiry

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Health department and Cabinet Office make opening statements on second day of first module

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has admitted Covid testing was “a significant weakness” in the UK’s early pandemic response and stressed the need for proper funding to prepare the nation for the next emergency.

While the DHSC said it would not claim “it did everything right”, its opening statement to the UK Covid public inquiry highlighted wider government choices on funding in what will be seen as turning the focus on Downing Street and the Treasury.

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