Government accused of Misconduct in Public office

Warwick and Leamington Labour Party has unanimously passed a motion to hold the government to account on every point of evidence made in the final report of The People’s Inquiry.  On the basis of the evidence, the People’s Covid Inquiry has accused the government of Misconduct in Public Office.

The CLP endorsed the People’s Covid Inquiry’s findings and agreed to request that the newly appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, give it his full support and bring it to the attention of the wider Labour Party and Labour Movement.

Anna Pollert, secretary of South Warwickshire Keep our NHS Public commented:

“We are asking that the Labour Party demand that the Government does not repeat its mistakes.  There has been no indication from the Government that it is prepared to learn any lessons from this tragedy. With Omicron spreading rapidly throughout the UK, there is no time to lose and there is an urgent need to act on the People’s Covid Inquiry’s findings, and implement the recommendations set out in its report.”

The People’s Covid Inquiry made its final report on December 1st, 2021. It was initiated by NHS Campaigning Group ‘Keep our NHS Public’ and took place fortnightly from 24 February-16 June 2021. A panel of four, chaired by Michael Mansfield QC, recently described as “The king of human rights work”, heard evidence from over 40 witnesses including bereaved families, frontline NHS and key workers, national and international experts, trade union and council leaders, and representatives from disabled people’s and pensioners’ organisations.

Motion to Warwick and Leamington Full CLP Meeting, December 8^th 2021.

Put by Anna Pollert, Secretary South Warwickshire Keep our NHS Public, seconded by Professor Nick Spencer.

The motion

On the basis of its evidence, the People’s Covid Inquiry accuses the government of Misconduct in Public Office.

This CLP endorses the People’s Covid Inquiry’s findings and requests that the Labour Party and the newly appointed (November 29^th 2021) Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, give it his full support and bring it to the attention of the wider Labour Party and Labour Movement.

This CLP requests that the Labour Party hold the Government to account on every point of evidence made in the Inquiry, summarised below in ‘Background’.

Further, the Labour Party must demand that the Government does not repeat its mistakes. As we enter winter, this is more urgent than ever. During the intervening months from July until now, the People’s Covid Inquiry has continued to gather and examine evidence, including the fiercely critical House of Commons Health and Social Care and Science and Technology Committees report, ‘Coronavirus: lessons learned to date’ published 12 October, the recent joint report ‘Building a consensus for health, care and support services fit for the pandemic era’ from Independent SAGE and Keep Our NHS Public, the National Audit Office report on the Government’s preparedness for the pandemic, and much more.

The Labour Party should note that there has been no indication from the Government that it is prepared to learn lessons from this tragedy and the significance of the ongoing death toll in the UK is currently played down in official circles.

Since the Inquiry concluded its evidence gathering, the infection rate and death toll are going up again. On 7 July 2021 the average daily death toll from COVID-19 in the UK was 35. On December 9^th, at the time writing, there were 148 COVID-19 deaths per day and 854 in the past week and 5,505 patients with Covid admitted to hospital in the last 7 days.

The Labour Party needs to speak out now on the continuing lack of proper public health policies by the Government, including Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support, in its over-reliance on vaccines. This winter is predicted to be the worst ever for the NHS and already NHS and care services are under enormous and unsustainable pressure. The Government’s handling of the pandemic was grossly negligent and has unquestionably led to significant loss of life that could and should have been avoided. Those in charge during the pandemic showed a wilful disregard for public safety and a callousness toward the numbers of people who have died and their bereaved relatives.

This CLP asks that the Labour Party nationally, and Wes Streeting as Health Minister, support the Inquiry’s message to the Government:

‘We ask that the Government accepts and acts on our findings, and implements the recommendations set out in our report. It is not too late for some good to emerge from the pandemic. Lessons are clear, and can and should be learned.’

Background

The People’s Covid Inquiry made its final report on December 1^st 2021. It was initiated by NHS Campaigning Group ‘Keep our NHS Public’ and took place fortnightly from 24 February-16 June 2021. A panel of four, chaired by Michael Mansfield QC, recently described as “The king of human rights work”, heard evidence from over 40 witnesses including bereaved families, frontline NHS and key workers, national and international experts, trade union and council leaders, and representatives from disabled people’s and pensioners’ organisations.

A summary report can be found at https://36085122-5b58-481e-afa4-a0eb0aaf80ca.usrfiles.com/ugd/360851_62aeecaeb6944934b6c55d41708d7eeb.pdf.

The conclusions of the People’s Inquiry Panel can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S56rrfgFWFg

The basis of the Inquiry’s accusation to the Government of Misconduct in Public Office is published in the full and summary report. The following provides a guide to the main reasons:

• The Government was not prepared for a global pandemic despite warnings that one was coming. When it arrived, they ignored clear warnings of the dangers and did too little too late.
• During the decade before the pandemic successive Conservative Governments had run down public services, including the NHS, public health and care services, with the result that they were already in crisis when the pandemic struck. The pandemic then shone a light on long term problems in society around inequalities and discrimination and exacerbated them. The poorest and most vulnerable were hit the hardest and died in disproportionate numbers.
• The Government failed to protect its frontline workers, at risk groups and the public.
• It made disastrous decisions about basic public health measure in a pandemic of Find, Test, Trace, Isolate, Support and sidelined GPs and Primary Care, using NHS 111 instead.
• It consistently favoured the private sector over the NHS
• There was lack of transparency around these dealings and huge sums of public money have been wasted, many on ‘crony’ contracts to a VIP lane of favoured companies with little or no expertise in health, PPE etc.
• The Government failed to consult or to heed the advice of professionals, experts, civil society including unions and the public and, what’s more, actively distrusted them.
• They have shown themselves unwilling to learn from their mistakes and change course where appropriate.
• They have ignored calls for an urgent statutory public inquiry in order to learn lessons and prevent further unnecessary deaths.

Appendix

The British Medical Association and the British Medical Journal together endorse the findings of the People’s Covid Inquiry.

In a British Medical Journal editorial, ‘Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant’ (BMJ February 4^th 2021 https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n314), Dr Kamran Abbasi, BMJ Executive Editor, proposed that the UK Government had shown a ‘premeditated and reckless indifference’ to human life when it accepted tens of thousands of premature deaths in the hope of achieving ‘herd immunity’ or for the sake of propping up the economy. He used the term ‘social murder’ to describe ‘the lack of political attention to social determinants and inequalities’ which was uncovered by the pandemic, and which led to disproportionate death rates amongst the poorest and most disadvantaged. Abbasi asked who is to blame if avoidable deaths result from politicians wilfully neglecting historical experience, scientific advice and their own statistics and modelling. Should public health malpractice count as a crime against humanity, both nationally and internationally?

The British Medical Association is likewise in full support of the People’s Covid Inquiry. On the day the People’s Inquiry published its report, The British Medical Association issued a press release: ‘Damning report of the People’s Covid Inquiry demands Government take action now……This review, along with yesterday’s Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice report, should compel the Government into taking action and beginning the full statutory public inquiry, today, not next Spring, in order to act on lessons learnt now and avoid further needless deaths and an unimaginable impact on the NHS.”

https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/damning-report-of-the-people-s-covid-inquiry-demands-government-take-action-now-says-bma

While a properly conducted public inquiry will be an important part of the reckoning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has not yet even started any serious preparation, such as appointing a Chair. The People’s Covid Inquiry has stepped in as a matter of national emergency.