MP admits Government made mistakes in handling Covid pandemic
A Shropshire Conservative MP has admitted the Government 'could have done better' in the wake of a critical report over the handling of the coronavirus.
But Lucy Allan, MP for Telford, said ministers and scientists did their best in a situation which nobody had faced before. She added that previous governments must also accept their share of blame for a long-term failure to plan for future pandemics.
“All governments were dealing with an unknown virus and responses varied in the fight to protect the public," she said.
"There is no doubt knowing what we know now the UK Government would have done some things differently.
"Ministers and scientists tried their utmost to respond in a way that saved lives and protected the NHS at a time when it was not clear how the virus would behave."
She said it was now possible to look back identify areas where the Government got it wrong, and some things which could have been done better.
"The failure to prepare for a pandemic over consecutive governments and across the UK is probably the one area where we can all agree it’s right to be critical, given that pandemic preparedness would have been near the top of any nation’s risk register,” she added.
