Stephen Barclay says decisions taken ‘to move quickly’ despite inquiry criticising handling of pandemic
A cabinet minister has refused to apologise to the families who lost loved ones during the coronavirus pandemic after a damning report from MPs on the UK government’s response found that tens of thousands of lives were lost because of a delay to the first lockdown.
Stephen Barclay, the minister for the Cabinet Office, insisted the government “did take decisions to move quickly” despite the inquiry finding Britain’s early handling of the coronavirus pandemic was one of the worst public health failures in UK history, with ministers and scientists taking a “fatalistic” approach that exacerbated the death toll.
