Justin Welby calls for start to public inquiry into handling of Covid
by Robert Booth, Guardian:
Archbishop of Canterbury says investigation must be independent, with power to place witnesses under oath’
The archbishop of Canterbury has called on the government to start a public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic in the UK, saying it should call out “reckless error” and have the power to compel witnesses to attend.
In a move that will reignite pressure on Boris Johnson to finally deliver on a promise to launch an investigation, Justin Welby told the Guardian: “It has got to be an utterly independent statutory public inquiry, that has complete access, that can call witnesses, subpoena them if necessary and if necessary put them under oath.”
“I think we are at the point where they could start doing it,” the archbishop said. “If we ever have anything like this again, a national catastrophe on this scale, what do we do?”
He made the call on Tuesday evening as he met people bereaved by the pandemic at the Covid-19 Memorial Wall on the South Bank of the Thames opposite parliament, where more than 150,000 red hearts have been inscribed in memory of the UK dead. He was joined by Rabbi Daniel Epstein, of the Cockfosters and North Southgate United Synagogue, and Kazeem Fatai, Imam of the Old Kent Road mosque.
Johnson has rebuffed multiple calls from the bereaved, Labour and leading scientists to launch an inquiry immediately. The prime minister told MPs last month that he considered it “an irresponsible diversion” of official time at the moment. Labour has said it wants the inquiry to start as soon as Covid restrictions are lifted.
Welby said that while walking along the 460-metre long memorial he had the sense of “a tidal wave of grief that has not been released”.
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