6. Submissions on Behalf of Scottish Covid Bereaved by Dr Mitchell KC

Dr Mitchell: I’m instructed by solicitor Aamer Anwar on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved. My learned juniors Kevin McCaffery and Kevin Henry assist me, along with the solicitors’ team, Aamer Anwar & Company.

In writing on the “great flu”, the influenza pandemic of 1918, Albert Marrin, Emeritus Professor of History at Yeshiva University, wrote in 2018:

“When the next pandemic comes, as it surely will someday, perhaps we will be ready to meet it. If we are not, the outcome will be very, very, very dreadful.”

The Inquiry will come to hear that the UK and Scotland was not prepared, that the capacity of the UK to cope with and recover quickly from difficulties caused by Covid was diminished by years of changes to critical establishment, underfunding, cuts, failures to address inequality, and the effects of Brexit.

Despite a belief that the UK was a world leader in preparedness, it quickly and terrifyingly became clear that we were not. The fact is, at best, those in charge sought to prepare for the wrong pandemic. Whilst it may be true that in planning for a pandemic there are, of course, areas of supposition and hypothesis, what ought to have been clear is that years of austerity and the effects of Brexit had left the UK woefully underprepared for the virus that swept our shores.

The Inquiry will come to hear from Sir Oliver Letwin, Minister for Government Policy, 2010 to 2016, Inquiry reference 000177810 at paragraph 8. He states:

“As we all now know, in the event we were much better prepared to deal with the pandemic influenza that we did not face, than we were to deal with the Covid-19 that we did face.”

The Inquiry will also hear from Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, July 2018 to June 2021, Inquiry statement INQ000181825, at paragraph 6:

“On coming into post as Health Secretary I was advised that the UK was a world leader in preparations for a pandemic. Whilst this may have been the heartfelt belief, it did not turn out to be the case when faced with what became known as Covid-19. Once we understood the threat from the disease, the lack of concrete preparedness plans became clear.”

According to the National Records of Scotland, as at 4 June 2023 there were 17,646 deaths in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. Many of those who have died because of poor mental health as a result of the effects of the pandemic will not be recorded as Covid deaths, although it is equally to blame. The same can be said for those who couldn’t access medical services which might have saved their lives.

The true cost, the true human cost of Covid cannot be calculated in numbers.

Each of these deaths not only represents an individual tragedy, but has affected friends and family, loved ones, colleagues, neighbours of each one who died. No one in the UK has been unaffected by the pandemic.

Scottish Covid Bereaved began as part of a Facebook group. They now represent a group of like-minded bereaved individuals who share common goals, not wanting the deaths of their loved ones to have been in vain and for lessons to be learned by governments and public authorities to ensure that no one else will have to suffer in the same way as its members have.

The Scottish Covid Bereaved are certain that in sharing lived experiences both throughout the pandemic and afterwards, they will greatly assist the Chair in understanding the impact of the pandemic and the response, how decisions affecting every individual were made, and the lessons which can and must be learned to ensure we are all better prepared to face any future pandemic.

While Scottish Covid Bereaved came together as a result of the shared experience of suffering bereavement due to the pandemic, their membership includes those with experience of other consequences of the pandemic: healthcare workers who were on the frontline of the response to Covid-19, many of whom continue to suffer from trauma as a result of their experiences; members of ethnic minorities who suffer as a result of inequalities in health; sufferers of long Covid, who continue to be affected by a lack of medical knowledge of and treatment for the condition; relatives of an individual who died after having contracted Covid-19 while unvaccinated in custody, illustrating issues of vaccine roll-out in the prison setting and the provision of healthcare for those individuals.

Although diverse in experience, the Scottish Covid Bereaved are united in their commitment to ensure that this Inquiry carries out its task properly in this module, and assesses whether the pandemic was properly planned for and whether the UK was adequately ready for the eventuality.

My learned friend Mr Keith KC in his opening speech set out many questions that the Inquiry will consider, and those questions are welcomed by the Scottish Covid Bereaved. Here are some further questions that they want answers to.

Why were crucial questions not learned from the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, the 2012 MERS outbreak and the pandemic planning exercises?

Why was the stock of PPE which had been built up and stockpiled at considerable expense since the swine flu epidemic of 2009 not properly monitored for the expiry of items, and why were the necessary replacements not ordered?

Why, according to media reports, were millions of items of expired PPE readmitted to the stockpile and relabelled with new expiry dates over the old? What does this say of the UK’s preparedness for a pandemic?

Were the politicians from the UK and devolved administrations able to put aside political differences and to act in the public interest?

Was our NHS in Scotland properly staffed and resourced to allow it to deal with a pandemic of this magnitude?

Were our social care services properly staffed and resourced?

Were our public health institutions properly funded and structured to allow them to deal with the pandemic?

These questions in this module represent only a tiny number of the many questions that in the future will need to be answered, like: did our politicians ignore the science until it was too late? Why were Scotland’s Chief Medical Officers, senior nursing officers and many others not invited to important SAGE meetings? Who decided on the deadly steps of releasing untested people into care homes from hospitals whilst relatives, despite having proof of negative Covid tests, were cruelly denied the right to visit their relatives. Why did Downing Street delay the lockdown? What was the scientific justification for Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme? Why were our governments so slow in acting on asymptomatic and aerosol-generated transmission despite scientific evidence?

Today it will be over three years since the first death from Covid-19 took place in this country. In that time probably nearly quarter of a million people have died either directly or indirectly from Covid, as our leaders now stand accused of presiding over a carousel of chaos.

In the coming weeks, months and years, the mantra for some who will give evidence to this Inquiry will be “with the benefit of hindsight”, but our governments had been tasked with preparing for a pandemic for decades.

For a few brief moments in the pandemic, death sparked a universal grief as we were asked to unite behind our nation’s politicians and stand on doorsteps, but very quickly we were asked to move on. Now is the time for careful reflection. Those who lost loved ones will no longer be invisible in their misery and it’s for this Inquiry to illuminate the truth of what’s happened and why.

Over the coming months and years, at times this Inquiry may falter, but it cannot fail. It will come under sustained and repeated attacks. It will suffer legal challenges in its quest to obtain the evidence it needs to shed light on what happened. It must, however, never be afraid to raise its voice for the truth. That is the very least we owe to those who lost their lives and to those in the future who may be saved by the implementation of this Inquiry’s findings.

The work of this Inquiry may save many more lives in the next pandemic than all the preparation that wasn’t done in advance of the Covid pandemic. Governments would do well to remember this when they fail to provide information requested by this Inquiry.

No person, no institution, no matter how powerful, whether it be in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, Westminster, Holyrood, can obstruct the search for truth.

The Scottish Covid Bereaved have and will tell their heartbreaking stories. We will question our leaders, our civil servants, our physicians, because, for the bereaved, the words “truth” and “change” must be the legacy of this Inquiry.

Across the United Kingdom, thousands felt marginalised, isolated, betrayed and lied to as the cries of the dying went unheard. It is for those thousands who died, who can no longer cry out for justice, that the bereaved families fight.

The Scottish Covid Bereaved welcomes the commencement of the public hearing for the UK Inquiry and acknowledge the massive amount of work done to date and commend the determination of the Inquiry to uncover the truth, and we intend to fill our role as core participants to support the Inquiry in achieving that end.

It is not only in the interests of the Scottish Covid Bereaved but it is in the interests of every person in the United Kingdom that this Inquiry understands what happened, why it happened and what can be done to ensure that when the next pandemic comes, as it surely will some day, we will be prepared.

These are the submissions for the Scottish Covid Bereaved.

Lady Hallett: Thank you very much indeed, Dr Mitchell, very grateful.

Right, I think it’s Mr Stanton next.