'Downright offensive': Wigan woman who lost dad to Covid-19 blasts PM's 'ambiguous' inquiry announcement

Boris Johnson announced in Parliament on Wednesday that an independent probe would investigate how the pandemic was handled by the Government in its early stages. He did not set out a timescale for when proceedings would begin.

Hannah Brady, from Hindley, felt the PM’s announcement failed to answer questions that she and countless others bereaved by Covid-19 have for Downing Street. She said Mr Johnson’s announcement provided “a minimal response” for grieving relatives.

Hannah’s dad Shaun died in May after contracting coronavirus. Shaun, who was also father to 22-year-old Tasha, was a key worker at the Heinz factory in Kitt Green, and bravely fought the virus for six weeks before dying at the age of 55. Since her father’s death, 24-year-old Hannah has become a key figure in the Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice group, which is made up exclusively of people who have lost family members to the virus.

They have long been campaigning for an urgent inquiry into the nation’s pandemic response. Their key questions focus on why the lockdown was imposed so late, particularly given evidence from Professor Neil Ferguson which suggested that 22,000 lives could have been saved if the lockdown had started just one week earlier.

Their petition was delivered to Mr Johnson and every single MP last month with more than 159,000 signatures. But they have been left disheartened by the PM’s refusal to meet with them, or to confirm whether or not the probe would be held in public, as per the group’s request.

Hannah said: “[The PM] hasn’t provided a timescale. He said it will be independent but not if it will be public, which it needs to be.

“Once again, Boris Johnson is trying to appease bereaved families and the scientific community with a minimal response, which is downright offensive to bereaved families. We are channelling our grief into the petition, to ask for him to prepare for the second wave now. But again, he is being ambiguous.”

She added: “We don’t want to meet with him so he can sit and grovel and apologise and tell us how sorry he is for what’s happened. That won’t make any difference to us, and it’s not going to bring my dad back. We want him to meet with us so he can see the true human impact of Covid-19, and hopefully that will spur him into making better decisions to prepare for the second wave.”

Hannah and other members of the group held a Zoom call with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner on Wednesday afternoon.

“He didn’t go as far as to say he supports our petition, but he is really keen for an urgent inquiry,” Hannah said of the opposition leader.

“We are not asking for the world. We are not asking for an apology. We are asking for {Boris Johnson] to make an attempt to save lives in the second wave, that we all know is coming.”