Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about the National COVID Memorial Wall.

This spectacular and poignant display of more than 150,000 red and pink hearts symbolises all those who have tragically lost their lives to COVID-19. It is a moving tribute set along the south bank of the River Thames opposite Parliament and it has become a place for people to come together, to reflect on the tragedy of what has happened, and to begin to heal.

I pay tribute to the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice and all the volunteers who have made the memorial wall happen. I support the campaign for it to remain a permanent site of remembrance and I urge the Government to facilitate its continuation.

Responding to questions in the House of Commons about the future of the memorial, Ministers said they are unsure if any decisions have been made about its permanency, but they believe the site is owned by St Thomas’ Hospital. The wall of hearts is a creative outpouring of grief from bereaved families and I believe it would be a fitting remembrance site to sit alongside the national COVID memorial to which the Prime Minister has committed.

The human cost of COVID-19 has been appalling. Families deserve answers to the decisions made by the Government and to the wider questions of preparedness and resilience. A cross-party parliamentary report published in October concluded that the Government’s initial response to the pandemic was “one of the most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced”. It found a deliberate policy to take a slow and gradualist approach to COVID-19 early on led to a higher initial death toll.

Grieving families will understandably question whether their loved ones died needlessly. Lessons must be learned to ensure such mistakes never happen again. While the Government has committed to establishing a full public inquiry, this is not expected to begin until spring next year.

I support calls from the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice and others for a full public and independent inquiry to begin as soon as possible, to learn lessons and ensure mistakes are not repeated.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue. I will continue to support calls to secure the future of the National COVID Memorial Wall.

Peter Dowd MP