Responding to the Commons inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, Portsmouth South’s Stephen Morgan MP said:
“Ministers were repeatedly warned that their dither and delay would cost lives and this report is a damning indictment that it tragically, did.
“It underlines a string of monumental errors and Government complacency, including a failure to set up an effective test and trace system that left many vulnerable people in Portsmouth care homes exposed to the virus.
“For a while now I have been calling on the government to provide our local public services with the support they need, but the government’s failure to step up when they needed it most cost lives.
“There must be a public inquiry now so that lessons can be learnt quickly, those responsible for these failures can be held to account and families from across our city can be given the answers they deserve.”
