Labour’s Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster Angela Rayner has demanded that , the Minister responsible for establishing public
inquiries, intervenes to guarantee that all government business
conducted on private email accounts will be secured and provided
to the public inquiry into the Government’s mishandling of the
Covid pandemic.
The intervention comes following evidence that the use of
personal emails was ‘endemic’ in the Department of Health and
Social Care, with the former Secretary of State and using private
emails to conduct Government business and approve contracts
handing out taxpayers’ money.
Warning that Tory ministers can’t be allowed to avoid scrutiny
and hide information and decisions from the public inquiry,
Rayner also called on the Government to establish the public
inquiry immediately. The Inquiries Act gives the Chair of an
inquiry power to require relevant persons to provide evidence
“produce any documents” and “any other thing” that are in their
possession or under their control and relate to the inquiry, but
this only applies once the inquiry has been established and the
Chair appointed.
Rayner also highlighted Gove’s previous attempts to use private
email addresses to avoid Freedom of Information Laws when he was
Education Secretary, and Gove misleading Parliament about a
secretive FOI ‘Clearing House’ in the Cabinet Office.
Labour’s Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster , said:
“The failures of Tory Ministers resulted in the avoidable deaths
of tens of thousands of people. They cannot be allowed to hide
from the public inquiry.
“The use of personal email accounts was clearly endemic in the
Department of Health and Social Care. The public and the bereaved
families in particular deserve nothing less than full
transparency and accountability, and a guarantee there will be no
more cover ups.
“Michael Gove must intervene to ensure that the public inquiry
has access to every decision, every meeting and every discussion
as evidence – including government business conducted by
Ministers on private email accounts in an attempt to keep them
hidden.”
Ends
Notes to editors
