Boris Johnson rules out Covid public inquiry ‘for months’

 The Government has told bereaved families it is too busy dealing with the coronavirus pandemic to launch an immediate public inquiry into its handling of the crisis.

In a letter to lawyers representing families who have lost loved ones during the pandemic, the Government appeared to rule out starting an official probe for months.

It said ‘an inquiry now is not appropriate’ because ‘the very people who would need to give evidence to an inquiry are working round the clock’.

It said that ‘it is not anticipated that the Government’s workload will ease in the coming months’.

The comments come amid growing calls for an immediate statutory inquiry into the Government’s handling of the crisis.

Boris Johnson has previously committed to holding a probe but he is yet to set out a timetable for doing so.

The letter, seen by The Guardian, was sent to lawyers representing the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group.

The letter, sent on April 1, relates to potential legal action to force an inquiry to begin.

Jo Goodman, the co-founder of the group, said the Government’s stance was ‘an insult to the bereaved [and] prevents the government from protecting future lives to the best of their ability’.

It comes just days after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, piled the pressure on Mr Johnson to launch an inquiry as he said the time for an independent probe ‘must be coming close’.

Mr Welby said during a visit to the National Covid Memorial Wall in central London that a probe should focus on ‘lessons to be learned’ and must be ‘very independent’ and ‘very wide-ranging’.

A Government spokesman told The Guardian that an inquiry will be held ‘at the appropriate time’ but officials are currently ‘rightly focused on protecting public health and saving lives’.

Mr Johnson said in March this year that the Government will launch a public inquiry into the crisis ‘as soon as it is right to do so’.

He said the probe will take place ‘as soon as it would not be an irresponsible diversion of the energies of the key officials involved’.

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