No undue influence on Isle of Man Covid review, author says

Kate Brunner KC's review covered the period between December 2019 and April 2022

There was "no undue influence" on a review into the Manx government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, its author has said.

Kate Brunner KC said the probe had gathered "some very frank evidence" and had reached "very robust conclusions".

There had previously been a call for a statutory inquiry to be held to ensure its independence and allow it to compel evidence.

But Ms Brunner said the team had full access to all the evidence it required.

The review, which covered the period from December 2019 up to the removal of restrictions in April 2022, made a total of 31 recommendations.

'Significantly harder'

Although the Public Accounts Committee had originally called for a full public inquiry, the Council of Ministers received the backing of Tynwald members for an independent review instead.

However, the review's terms of reference called for it to consider whether a public inquiry was needed.

Ms Brunner said the independence of her review was "an absolutely central part of my processes right from the start".

She said a statutory inquiry was not recommended as the required evidence had been provided.

But she said issues with data storage within the government systems had made the review process "significantly harder", as there was a "chaotic element to much of the documentation that the review was faced with".

However, she said she had found no evidence of "documents being deliberately manipulated or deliberately withheld".

Ms Brunner said she would like to see the recommendations "taken seriously", as each one had "come out of very careful research and very detailed findings".

She said: "I hope it will be used, I hope the recommendations will be followed.

"I invite very active consideration of the report and using it as a resource, and I hope that it is a useful resource for future governments as well."

Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]