A REPORT by MPs into the UK Government’s initial handling of the Covid pandemic has exposed the failures at the heart of the Westminster, Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price MS has said.
A report by MPs says the UK's failure to do more to stop Covid spreading early in the pandemic was one of the worst ever public health failures.
Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price called the report “sobering, damning, devastating”.
Mr Price also said that the report, which examines the initial UK response to the Covid pandemic, only contains 9 mentions of Wales in its 147 pages, showed that it was more important than ever for a “Wales-only public inquiry”.
Responding to the House of Commons report on lessons learned to date, Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price MS said: “Sobering, damning, devastating. This report exposes the fatalistic approach at the heart of this Westminster Government which led to tens of thousands of lost lives in one of the UK’s worst ever public health failures.
“Too slow to respond, too late to lockdown, and too arrogant to learn from countries with greater expertise, this report must forever put to bed Westminster politicians’ conceited belief that they are somehow unique in the world.
“Meanwhile, with only 9 mentions in the 147-page report, Wales is resigned to the footnotes.
“It is now more important than ever that we get a Wales-only public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic. We cannot settle for a mere chapter in a UK-wide inquiry.
"We need to look at what happened in detail, and in public, to learns lessons for the future - there should be no avoidance of detailed scrutiny.
“The people of Wales – and the bereaved families - will expect and deserve nothing less.”
Bereaved families across the UK are calling for answers after thousands of Covid-related deaths across the country.
Jenny Jones is just one woman who is suffering the loss of a loved one and she believes more could have been done to protect the vulnerable.
She says she feels 'let down' and questions need to be answered.
A Welsh Government spokesperson previously said that a UK-wide inquiry will have the capacity to oversee decisions made across the four nations.
They said: "A UK-wide inquiry will have the capacity and force to oversee the interconnected nature of the decisions that have been made across the four nations and is the best way for the experiences of people in Wales to be properly understood.
"The First Minister has spoken directly to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster about the many specific issues the inquiry must focus on to deal comprehensively with the actions of the Welsh Government and reflect the experiences of people in Wales."
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