Matt Hancock admits Covid planning approach was ‘completely wrong’

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. It came as Mr Hancock: Attacked planning that revolved around finding “enough bodybags” and “burying the dead” Admitted he had not attended any National Security Committee meetings on emergency planning Said he “wasn’t enthusiastic” about no-deal Brexit robbing resources from health planning Turned to victims’ families in the gallery to tell them he was “profoundly sorry” Was heckled as he left the inquiry, with the bereaved shouting “Killer” and “How many have died?” Mr Hancock apologised directly to the families of Covid victims, dramatically turning to address the bereaved in the public seating area. Asked if planning for care homes was well prepared, Mr Hancock said: “No, it was terrible,” adding that the sector was in “nowhere near good enough shape”. The former health secretary also admitted he had signed off on resources being reallocated away from his department to support emergency planning for Boris Johnson’s threatened “hard” exit from the EU in 2019. open image in gallery Boris Johnson had told the government to prepare for a no-deal Brexit Mr Hancock said: “I wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but I signed it off, and the reason that I signed off the overall reshaping of the department is because we a very real and material threat, should a disorganised Brexit happen, that we needed to be prepared for.” But Mr Hancock said Britain had come “within hours” of running out of medicines required by intensive care units during the pandemic – and added that planning for a no-deal Brexit had helped to prevent the worst-case scenario. Asked if he agreed that planning for the pandemic was “lions led by structural donkeys”, the ex-minister said: “That’s absolutely right, and that was a problem across the Western world.” When the inquiry’s lawyer put it to Mr Hancock that there had been a “complete systemic failure” in the UK, he replied: “I couldn’t agree more, and it’s an absolute tragedy.” Mr Hancock was heckled as he left the inquiry, with people shouting “Killer” and “How many have died?” Members of the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice told the BBC that they found it ironic that police officers were on hand to protect Mr Hancock “when he didn’t protect our loved ones”.