Matt Hancock Shut Down By KC For Interrupting During Covid-19 Inquiry

Former health secretary Matt Hancock faced a grilling during the UK Covid-19 Inquiry as Jacqueline Carey KC demanded he stopped interrupting her questions. He argued the government did “everything we possibly could” in the face of the virus.“Does that mean, in a system that employs 1.4 million people in the NHS, with another around two-and-a-half million in social care, that every decision was perfect? Of course, it wasn’t.”Asked whether the imposition of visiting restrictions, which meant that some people could not be at the bedside of a dying relative, or could not have their partner with them in childbirth, were too strict, he said: “I think that we were balancing incredibly difficult considerations on both sides. I think, on balance, we got those broadly right across the pandemic, but I entirely understand and feel the very strong arguments on both sides.”He added: “Where I think we got it wrong, for instance, was the way that the funeral guidance was applied on the ground, it wasn’t as had been intended.“But of course, funerals are places where people gather and are deeply emotional and people come together, and that was also the thing that was driving the spread of the virus. So these were very difficult considerations, and broadly on balance, I think they were about right.