Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has once again called for an Independent Welsh Covid Inquiry.

Responding to today's Statement by the First Minister, ‘UK COVID-19 Inquiry: Module 2 report’, Darren commended the excellent work by Baroness Hallett, but said "we do not believe that the case for a Wales-only COVID inquiry has gone away".

He said:

"We still believe that we need an independent Welsh COVID inquiry to make sure that we learn the lessons from what happened.

"Whilst I appreciate that the Welsh Government has shared a lot of information with the UK inquiry, the fact of the matter is that the focus of the inquiry is very much on the UK Government, and there, in my view, needs to have been more focus on many of those decisions that were taken here.

"Many of those decisions, of course, were taken and they were very different than the decisions taken over the border. I still firmly believe, along with the COVID-bereaved families and many others, that we need that independent Welsh COVID inquiry to take place."

In his response, he also criticised the Welsh Government for not engaging properly with the Senedd's Covid Inquiry Committee, which has now disbanded.

He said:

"The Welsh Government didn't engage properly with that committee. It refused to support the case for people to take oaths before giving evidence to that committee. And it appears to me that it is now seeking to dictate the terms of its engagement with the Public Administration and Public Accounts Committee's Covid work."