More than 1,000 submissions sent to cross-party inquiry assessing government’s coronavirus response

Lib Dem leadership contender Layla Moran drives inquiry into governments coronavirus response. Photo: Sky News. - Credit: Sky News

Liberal Democrat politician Layla Moran has said there have been more than 1,000 submissions provided to a cross-party ‘rapid inquiry’ into the UK government’s handling of the pandemic.

Speaking during Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Moran said: ‘We saw the prime minister this week suggest that mistakes were made and that is why I am leading this cross-party group of MPs. We are running a rapid inquiry into coronavirus right through recess, so that we can learn the lessons that we need to before a potential second wave.’

More than 50 MPs and peers are part of the group, which includes Tory MPs, and they received more than 1,000 submissions so far.

The majority of the submissions are from people who suffer from long-lasting Covid-19 effects, but there is also a significant number of submissions from bereaved families who lost their loved ones. ‘I am really concerned about the mental health support around them; they don’t feel that their voices have been heard,’ said Moran.

Moran added: ‘There have also been more than 20 professional bodies that have written in and there have been some really striking pieces of evidence, one from Age UK that said that older people in receipt of care have been catastrophically let down, and many have died before their time. That is what we are here to try to avoid before a second wave.’


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She said the first question that needs an answer is what the government’s overall strategy is – and she thinks the strategy the government has been adopting over the last few weeks is ‘worrying’.

‘We have seen other countries and the UK say that they are aiming for what is called ‘zero Covid transmission’ in the community. Other countries have done that through putting things in place like a proper ‘test and trace’ system that works from start to finish and social distancing.

‘We have not heard from Boris Johnson if that is what he is aiming for in England and the whole of the UK, and that is one of the big questions, because if we are not aiming for zero Covid before the autumn, then what do we need to do to make sure that the NHS is prepared? We cannot wait.’