Covid Probe Already In Danger Of Being A Costly Irrelevance

‘The Inquiry already has contracts worth £113m and 63 barristers’

- Leo McKinstry

ALMOST incident every major or policy failure now triggers the parrot cry for an independent, judge-led inquiry. Yet the faith in this process is rarely justified by the outcomes.

On the contrary, these tribunals often turn into little more than bonanzas for fee-grabbing lawyers and axe-grinding lobbyists. Bogged down in procedural wrangles, they tend to move too slowly and report too late.

There is certainly a danger of that happening with the Covid pandemic inquiry, chaired by the respected former judge Baroness Hallett. Reflecting the devastation caused by the coronavirus, which killed over 226,000 people in Britain, this was hailed at its creation in 2021 as the biggest statutory investigation in our history.

Yet even before the inquiry has formally started, it has become embroiled in a dispute over access to material from the Government. Ministers argue they should only be required to supply documents pertinent to the Covid crisis. But Lady Hallett has stressed her legal powers to demand any documentation she deems necessary, including copies of online messages and diaries.

CLAIMING to be worried about national security and politicians' privacy, the Government is challenging Lady Hallett in the courts, though one Minister, George Freeman, has admitted their case is unconvincing.