Responding to the National Audit Office report on the Government’s failure to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said: “This is a damning report that reveals a comprehensive failure from government to prepare adequately for the pandemic.
“That failure has cost many lives and contributed to an economic collapse the scale of which we are yet to understand. Most hurt of all will be a generation of school children left behind by the Conservatives who still refuse to make more funding available to help pupils catch up.
“The Prime Minister must apologise for this failure and acknowledge that an apology is only the beginning of the process. We need an immediate full inquiry and he must make £15 billion available for children to catch up on their education as his own government advisor recommended.”