Scottish Government accused of ‘corporate homicide’ on Covid

It found that Nicola Sturgeon’s government had adopted UK government resilience plans, which were already flawed, but failed to adapt them for Scottish needs, including one that was a UK-wide Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy and was “simply copied” by the Scottish Government.

Now Baroness Hallett, who chaired the inquiry, is calling for reform of the public health emergency planning in the future.

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More than 17,000 people in Scotland died during the coronavirus pandemic and it left Baroness Hallett to say: “I have no hesitation in concluding that the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures across the UK failed the citizens of all four nations.

“There were serious errors on the part of the state and serious flaws in our civil emergency systems. This cannot be allowed to happen again.”

The failings have been branded as ‘corporate homicide’ by Aamer Anwar, who is the lead solicitor for Scottish Covid Bereaved.

He welcomed the findings from the inquiry but warned the government that the fight will continue for more justice for those who lost their lives.

He said: “The UK Government & devolved nations failed in their most fundamental duty in protecting the lives of their citizens. What took place was corporate homicide on an industrial scale, yet many of those responsible have never truly faced justice.

“Today my clients the Scottish Covid Bereaved welcome the findings & recommendations of the public inquiry, it has been robust and ruthless, but we still have a long way to go in the search for truth & ultimately justice & a legacy for the many 1000s whose lives were taken from them.”

The British Medical Association have been left furious by the situation but are not surprised by it and say it shows the ‘true horror’ of how unprepared those who were in charge of running the country were.

Professor Philip Banfield is the chair of the BMA and believes a lot of lives were lost when they could have been saved with better preparation from those at Holyrood and in Westminster prior to the pandemic taking place in early 2020.

He said: “This report reveals in all its true horror how appallingly under-prepared the governments were for the pandemic, that processes failed us as citizens, and that lives could have been saved.

“We knew that when the pandemic began our healthcare services were already struggling to cope and ‘running hot’ because of years of neglect and under investment by the Conservative Government.

“This report lays bare how, time and time again, ministers were told that we simply did not have enough staff or resources to cope with the predictable huge surge in demand for healthcare that a pandemic would bring. It shows just how many times governments ignored key findings.”

The report has also left opposition politicians furious and Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie has told the SNP they need to address the issues and meet them head on while she was also critical of the UK Government for their role in the problems.

She said: “During the pandemic people across Scotland were let down by two ill-prepared governments and the consequences were catastrophic.

“The SNP must respond to these damning findings and set out how it will address the serious shortcomings raised.

“All those in power at this time owe us complete transparency and honesty as this inquiry continues to seek the truth about what went so tragically wrong.

“For all the lives lost, livelihoods destroyed and sacrifices made, the lessons of the Covid pandemic must be learned so that the mistakes are never repeated.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton believes the findings showed exactly what everyone already was aware of.

He accused the Scottish Government of having a ‘false sense of security’ and branded it ‘systematic failing’.

He said: “Today’s devastating findings confirm in black and white what we unfortunately already knew.

“SNP ministers including Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney were consistently warned that a pandemic was the single biggest threat to Scotland. Despite that, the Scottish Government they led was completely unprepared and distracted.

“Reports were confused, outdated or even copy and pasted. They were littered with a false sense of security and fatal assumptions about the threat we could face. Frontline staff across the NHS and social care were left in the dark because recommendations gathered dust on a shelf and those in charge of preparedness went months without meeting.

“Scotland was badly let down during the pandemic by both the SNP and Conservative governments. This report today must be an important step towards change.

“Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, yet sadly these findings of systematic and political failings will provide little comfort for thousands of grieving families.”

John Swinney was the Deputy First Minister of Scotland during the pandemic and is now in the top job at Holyrood.

There was no apology forthcoming but he did offer sympathies to those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, and promised that the Scottish Government will consider the recommendations made by Baroness Hallett.

He said: “The Scottish Government will carefully consider the recommendations made by Baroness Hallett in the UK Covid-19 Inquiry report and provide detailed responses to the recommendations within the timescales that have been set out.

“Families across the country lost loved ones to the Covid-19 pandemic, and we offer our deepest sympathies to all those who have experienced pain and grief as a result.

“It is with their loss in mind that we continue our efforts to make effective, practical and measurable improvements in pandemic planning and preparedness.

“The implementation of recommendations will require collaborative action with our counterparts across the four nations, and the Scottish Government is committed to working together, at all levels, in a way which allows us to best prevent, prepare for and respond to future civil emergencies.”