Preparations for the UK's exit from the EU contributed to a lack of preparedness for a global pandemic, a report on the British government's handling of the covid-19 pandemic shows.
The chairman of the investigation, Heather Hallett, directs sharp criticism at the pandemic management in the first of several planned reports on the subject. It is stated that British officials to a large extent focused on influenza outbreaks and therefore prepared for the "wrong pandemic".
The institutions responsible for planning were "labyrinthine in their complexity" and advisors did not have sufficient freedom to "express dissenting opinions", according to the report.
Furthermore, insiders have told the investigators that workflows for pandemic preparedness were paused due to resources being reallocated for the government's contingency plan, in case the country would leave the EU without reaching an agreement with the bloc.
The UK was one of the European countries with the highest mortality rates during the pandemic.
