BORIS Johnson has vowed to uncover Britain’s Covid mistakes saying he owes it “to the tens of thousands who died before their time”.
In a strong hint that a public inquiry will be held into the pandemic, he said there will come a time to probe what went wrong.
And he hit out at “sluggish” bureaucrats for failing to act swiftly enough as the blame game gets under way.
Speaking in Dudley yesterday, the PM said: “I know that there are plenty of things that people say and will say that we got wrong.
“And we owe that discussion and that honesty to the tens of thousands who have died before their time to the families who have lost loved ones.
“And of course there must be time to learn the lessons, and we will.”
Bojo said the coronavirus pandemic had highlighted the need to fix the social care system and reform the public sector.And he took a swipe at bureaucrats who failed to quickly respond to Britain’s worst crisis since the Second World War.
He said coronavirus “brutally illuminated” the “problems in our social care system, the parts of government that seemed to respond so sluggishly so that sometimes it seemed like that recurring bad dream when you are telling your feet to run and your feet won’t move.
“And yet we must also go further and realise that if we are to recover fully.”
At least 43,575 people have died from coronavirus in the UK – one of the biggest death counts in the world.
Opposition politicians have furiously demanded a public inquiry into why the tragic toll is so high.
Ministers have faced searing criticism over PPE shortages, the failure to quickly ramp up testing, and the care home crisis.
In a major speech in Dudley this morning the PM vowed to get the country back on track with a “New Deal” programme of building and investment – and fast tracking £5billion of spending dubbed Project Speed.
The PM vowed a Roosevelt-style plan to pick up the country and get it going again – predicting an even bigger economic crisis than in 2008.
And he announced what he said was “the most radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War” by cutting red tape to revitalise the nation’s high streets.
In a bold rallying cry he told voters in the Blue Wall seats the Tories won last December that his Government hasn’t forgotten their “mission to unite and level up” the UK.
Alongside his programme he confirmed £12billion of funding for a homes plan – first revealed at the Budget – that will support up to 180,000 new affordable homes for ownership and rent over the next 8 years.
Included in that will be a 1,500 unit pilot of ‘First Homes’ to people buying a home for the first time – at a 30% discount.
