My constituent Christabel lost her beloved father during the Covid-19 pandemic.  She is one of thousands of bereaved families fighting for justice for their loved ones, and she has my support.

The human cost of COVID-19 has been appalling. Families deserve answers to the decisions made by the Government and to the wider questions of preparedness and resilience. A cross-party parliamentary report published in October concluded the Government’s initial response to the pandemic was “one of the most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced”. It found a deliberate policy to take a slow and gradualist approach to COVID-19 early on led to a higher initial death toll.

Grieving families will understandably question whether their loved ones died needlessly. Lessons must be learned to ensure such mistakes never happen again. While the Government has committed to establishing a full public inquiry, this is not expected to begin until the spring.

I support calls from the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice and others for a full public and independent inquiry to begin as soon as possible, to learn lessons and ensure mistakes are not repeated.

Christabel has written this beautiful poem in memory of her father, which I share in full below: