Rennie calls for Covid inquiry report within six months

Scotland’s coronavirus inquiry should publish its initial report within six months of the Holyrood elections, Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie has insisted.

While First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has said an inquiry into what happened with the pandemic should start before the end of 2021, Mr Rennie called for an interim report to be published by then.

An inquiry should be set up on “day one” after next week’s election, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader said.

He insisted this was necessary as Scotland looks to rebuild after the pandemic, as restrictions again start to be eased.

Rennie stated: “Scotland has had one of the highest per capita death rates in the entire world. We know that in part this was due to major errors surrounding the handling of care homes, shortages of PPE and a lack of capacity for testing and contact tracing.

“As coronavirus restrictions start to ease again, we must put recovery first and ensure the same mistakes are never repeated.

“That is why Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for the coronavirus inquiry to be set up on day one after the election so we can start learning lessons now.”

He added: “To win back trust, I want to see the inquiry making its first interim report in six months and include experts from countries where the response seems to have been more effective.”