Covid inquiry: bereaved families declare government 'incompetence' on public record

London – Families grieving the loss of loved ones to Covid-19 declared on Wednesday that the long-running public inquiry has definitively established the government’s “incompetence, chaos and callousness” regarding the pandemic response.

Inquiry hears final witness testimony, fuels calls for action

The final day of witness testimony at the Covid-19 inquiry concluded with a powerful indictment of the government’s handling of the crisis, as bereaved families asserted that the inquiry's findings now represent a damning indictment on those in power.

Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK (CBFFJ), urged officials to utilize the inquiry’s recommendations as a blueprint for swift and decisive action to prepare for future crises. He cautioned that the country remains woefully unprepared.

“We will continue to fight for the inquiry’s recommendations to be implemented in full, and we will push back against the growing tide of conspiracy theorists that want to ignore the evidence and politicise saving lives,” Fowler stated outside Dorland House in London, the venue for the inquiry hearings.

The inquiry has become the most expensive public investigation in British history, accumulating costs of £203.98 million, a substantial increase over the previous record holder, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, which cost £191.2 million. The Taxpayers’ Alliance, among other groups, has criticized the inquiry's length and expense.

A spokesperson for the inquiry emphasized that its scope surpasses any previous public investigation, and the recently concluded public hearings represent the most significant financial component of its work. Over 238 public hearing days were held across the UK, involving 381 witnesses and over 600,000 evidence documents – roughly 5 million pages of testimony.

The government deployed 286 full-time staff across ten separate investigations covering areas such as pandemic preparedness, decision-making, healthcare, vaccines, and the economic response. While evidence has been gathered for all ten modules, inquiry chair Lady Hallett has only released findings on the initial two.

Her first report concluded that the UK’s pandemic planning suffered from “fatal strategic flaws” and that citizens were failed. The second report directly accused former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of presiding over a “toxic and chaotic” government culture, asserting that earlier lockdowns could have saved an estimated 20,000 lives.

CBFFJ, representing over 7,000 families who campaigned for the inquiry, welcomed the findings as “hard-hitting, clear-sighted and damning,” while advocating for even stronger recommendations. On Wednesday, a group of bereaved families gathered outside the inquiry with photographs of their deceased loved ones, observing a minute's silence and reiterating their commitment to seeking justice. Naomi Fulop, whose mother died after contracting Covid from a care worker lacking proper PPE, described the day as “bittersweet,” acknowledging both the vindication of their years-long fight and the enduring sadness.

“It’s very satisfying to have got to the end of an inquiry we fought for, and the two reports vindicate what we’ve been saying for years, but there’s also sadness. It’s a big moment,” Fulop said. She acknowledged concerns about the cost of the inquiry but insisted it was