A senior minister has rejected calls for a public inquiry into the UK government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in the worst death toll per capita of any of the world’s large economies.
Appearing on Sky News, the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, would not be drawn on a timeline for getting an inquiry under way as the UK’s coronavirus fatalities rose to almost 126,000.
The minister’s remarks come as a number of influential figures told the Guardian they supported a public inquiry, with Lord Kerslake, the head of the civil service under David Cameron, saying that the inquiry should begin by summer. Polling for the Guardian also revealed that 47% back an inquiry, which has legal powers to compel people to give evidence under oath, with just 18% saying they were opposed.
Asked why the government still has not given a date for an inquiry after the prime minister’s pledge for one in July, Kwarteng said it would be “premature” to launch an inquiry, arguing instead that the reopening of the economy was the main priority.
The business secretary said: “Personally I think what we’ve got to do is get through the roadmap and reopen the economy. And then once the economy is reopened, once we’ve got through the worst of the pandemic – and it’s still with us – we can have a debate and I’m sure that there’ll be plenty of room for an inquiry.
“But we haven’t – it seems premature to launch an inquiry when pandemic is still all around us.”
When pressed on whether the inquiry could take place after the summer, given the success of the vaccine rollout and progression through the government’s roadmap, Kwarteng was hesitant to commit to any timeline, saying he was sure there would be “appetite” for an inquiry after the unlocking of the economy.
“We should wait and see this process through, we’ve got a roadmap … We’ve got to try and get through that process, reopen the economy and see what the medium-term effects of Covid have been, look at the employment situation,” Kwarteng said.
“And then I’m sure there’ll be plenty of room and plenty of appetite for a full inquiry into what happened.”
The minister’s comments echo Downing Street’s position. The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Tuesday that “now is not the right time to devote huge amounts of official time to an inquiry”, adding that “there will be an appropriate time in the future” for an analysis.
In response to Kwarteng’s comments, Labour’s Bill Esterson, the shadow minister for trade, asked whether the minister wanted to avoid responsibility for the government’s shortcomings in its coronavirus strategy.
Esterson tweeted: “Kwasi Kwarteng says now is not the time for an enquiry into government’s handling of pandemic. Doesn’t he want to learn the lessons from what went wrong so we can improve our response for the rest of the crisis? Or is it that he wants to avoid blame for the government’s failure?”
