Covid inquiry: Tearful former chief medical officer 'sorry' to families of pandemic victims
The former chancellor defended the Conservatives' austerity measures as he appeared before the inquiry, ITV News Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana reports
The former chief medical officer for England came close to tears and apologised to families who lost loved ones during the pandemic when being questioned at the Covid inquiry.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, who was chief medical officer (CMO) for England between 2010 to 2019, was giving evidence at the official UK Covid-19 Inquiry when she came close to tears, recalling the “harrowing” cases of which she had been told.
Under questioning from lead counsel Hugo Keith KC, Dame Sally took a minute to apologise to the families of coronavirus victims.
She said: “Maybe this is the moment to say how sorry I am to the relatives who lost their families.
“It wasn’t just the deaths, it was the way they died. It was horrible.”
She told Mr Keith: “I heard a lot about it from my daughter on the front line as a young doctor in Scotland.
“It was harrowing and it remains horrible.”
Dame Sally said her experience with pandemic planning left her feeling like the UK was not prepared for a pandemic.
Mr Keith also asked whether not foreseeing the possibility of a lockdown when planning for a pandemic was “one of the more notable failures in this strategic planning”.
Dame Sally Davies apologised, saying: “I’m sorry, we didn’t plan for that.
“I think I would prefer to have planned to not get us to that stage but we didn’t recognise that it could.”
Earlier former Chancellor George Osborne defended the austerity measures he implemented when questioned by the inquiry.
Inquiry barrister Kate Blackwell KC asked him: “Do you agree by the time Covid-19 hit the consequences of austerity were a depleted health and social care capacity and rising inequality in the UK?”
Mr Osborne said: “Most certainly not, I completely reject that.
“I would say if we had not done that Britain would have been more exposed, not just to future things like the coronavirus pandemic, but indeed to the fiscal crisis which very rapidly followed in countries across Europe…”
He said he needed to repair the “seriously impaired public finances” following the “massive economic shock” of 2008.
Defending the government's spending decisions in the years leading up to the pandemic, he also said: “The one thing I’m sure of is there’s no point having a contingency plan you can’t pay for.
“And absolutely central to all of this is the ability of your economy and your public finances to flex in a crisis.”
Mr Osborne, who was chancellor between 2010 and 2016, also conceded there was no Treasury planning for the possibility of a lockdown.
The UK had a plan for an influenza pandemic, he said, echoing former Prime Minister David Cameron's testimony to the inquiry on Monday, when he admitted the government had only planned for a pandemic caused by flu, not other respiratory illnesses like coronaviruses.
Mr Osborne's appearance at the inquiry comes after former prime minister Mr Cameron became the first politician to appear under oath at the series of hearings on Monday.
At the beginning of the week, a doctors' union said the pair must be “taken to task” at the inquiry over austerity-era decisions that “left us so unprepared” for the pandemic.
The British Medical Association (BMA) insisted Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne should be questioned about the “parlous state” of the NHS due to a decade of spending cuts under the Conservative Party.
Mr Cameron admitted "too much time" was spent planning for a flu pandemic, rather than other diseases, but defended the Conservatives' NHS record.
Who else will appear at the Covid inquiry?The UK Covid-19 inquiry will examine how prepared the UK was for the pandemic, meaning economic policies in the years leading up to the first outbreak will be taken into its wide remit.
The inquiry is currently in its first module, where chair Baroness Hallett is looking at the UK's preparation for a pandemic.
Jeremy Hunt, the current Chancellor who served as health secretary in the austerity-era government of the 2010s, is also set to appear at the inquiry.
England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty, and former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance are also scheduled to appear as witnesses during the inquiry.
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