PRESS RELEASE – 22ND JANUARY – EVIDENCE OF THE NATIONAL CLINICAL DIRECTOR – JASON LEITCH
PRESS RELEASE – Evidence of the National Clinical Director – Jason Leitch
UK COVID INQUIRY IN EDINBURGH ON TUESDAY 23rd JANUARY
Edinburgh International Conference Centre, The Exchange, 150 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8EE
Inquiry begins at 10am- A press conference will take place outside the Inquiry at 9.30am on Tuesday, 23RD January, weather permitted.
There will be a press conference at 1pm following the evidence of Jason Leitch, whose evidence will be heard in the morning
Present at the hearing will be members of the Scottish Covid Bereaved
Core UK decision-making and political governance – Scotland (Module 2A)
Statement by Aamer Anwar – Lead Solicitor- Scottish Covid Bereaved
If the protection of life is the pre-eminent duty of every government owed to the people, then the massive numbers of those who died is the marker against which each government must be judged. Why did we lose life on a such a devastating scale?
In Module 2 some of the best evidence – the most unguarded, contemporaneous evidence – came from informal methods of communications such as WhatsApps and texts.
The sorry history of the difficulty that this Inquiry has had obtaining those documents from the Scottish Government, is a cause of considerable concern to the SCB.
In March and April 2021, promises were made not only to the SCB but the people of Scotland in the manifesto on which the members of the Scottish Government stood, that there would be a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic.
It ought to have been obvious to politicians, advisors, and civil servants at least from then if not earlier, that the evidence of contemporaneous discussions in relation to the pandemic response would be of vital importance to the subsequent inquiry.
While witnesses in this Module may point to opinion polling during the pandemic favourably contrasting the Scottish Government’s communications and strategy with those of the UK Government, positive poll numbers are no consolation to the bereaved.
As of June last year, there were more than 17,000 deaths in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. Each one of those deaths was a tragedy.
The Scottish Covid Bereaved want to know the truth of what took place in those early days, to know about the decisions which directly impacted on the death of their loved ones.
The Scottish Covid Bereaved will speak tomorrow about the impact of what has taken place over the last few days, react to the evidence of Jason Leitch, as well as provide more detail on what our next steps are.
