MORE THAN 100,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK, the latest figures show.
According to the Office for National Statistics, around 108,000 people have now died since the start of the pandemic last year.
Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, is calling for the Prime Minister to hold an inquiry into the pandemic now, arguing lessons can be learned from the past 11 months that could help save lives.
He said Boris Johnson needed to take a “long hard look in the mirror” as the grave milestone was reached this morning, and continued: “The death of over 100,000 people with coronavirus is a dark day for our country.
“Loss on this scale can seem almost too great to get our heads around but we must never forget that each of these people has left behind family, friends and neighbours.
“Thoughts and prayers are needed for all those left behind but alone that will not get us through this pandemic.”
He said his party has been calling for an inquiry for the last six months, but added: “Just this week the Prime Minister said it was 'not sensible' to hold an inquiry now. But now is precisely the right time if we are to put the lessons of the last 12 months to best use.
"Lessons learnt after the event will come too late for thousands in our country who will lose loved ones in the coming months.
“They will also come too late for thousands more who will suffer with the after effects of this virus such as long COVID. If the loss of 100,000 people in this country is not a good enough reason to hold a public inquiry now, then the Prime Minister needs to take a long hard look in the mirror."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel